The Use of Online Learning to Improve Math Instruction

• 1. 2The Use of Online Learning to Improve Math InstructionKimberly CaiseA Capstone Presented to the Faculty of the Teachers Collegeof Western Governors Universityin Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree ofMaster of Education in Learning and TechnologyDate: September 14, 2010

2. 3AbstractThis capstone reports the design, development and formative evaluation of a Moodle coursecreated to provide professional development to teachers. Teachers often have difficultyeffectively teaching the skills necessary for students to solve word problems or equations inmathematics. The Moodle course will target math teachers and demonstrate how to create videotutorial lessons, called mathcasts to teach students to become better problem solvers. Teachersand students will post mathcasts to the Moodle course and discuss effective ways to solveproblems with students. A formative evaluation will be conducted with reviewers critiquing theMoodle course for improvements. The evaluation will consist of three phases designed toidentify weaknesses in the Moodle course and determine if the course objectives were met. 3. 4 4. 5Table of ContentsCHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION TO THE PROBLEM ...4Introduction .....4Problem Statement ..9Description of Stakeholder Groups ...10Formative Evaluation Questions and Goal Statement ...11CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW ..13Introduction ....13CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY ....22Learner Analysis ....22Formative Evaluation Instruments......27Special Populations ....30Materials .. ..... 31Performance Objectives .....31Learning Theories and Instructional Strategies .....32Procedure ...53Technology Used in the Curriculum .....55Data Analysis ........56CHAPTER 4: RESULTS......57Report of Results ..57Recommended Revisions .62 5. 6CHAPTER 5: DISCUSSION ..63Discussion .63Implications...66Limitations,68Critique .71References .....73Appendix A ...77Appendix B ...82Appendix C .......83Appendix D . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . ..88Appendix E . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. .93Appendix F. . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . 98 6. 7CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION TO THE PROBLEMIntroductionWhat I DidTeachers often lack the skills and knowledge necessary to implement lessons thatdemonstrate how to strategically solve word problems. As a result, I created an online Moodlecourse to provide professional development to fifth through eighth grade math teachers. Thecourse was designed to assist math teachers in acquiring the necessary technology skills to betterteach students to use technology tools and be effective problem solvers. The course wasdeveloped based on the concept of mathcasts, by the creator Tim Fahlberg ofhttp://www.mathcasts.org, and is designed for the teacher new to integrating technology tools orstruggling to teach problem solving.Why I Chose This ProjectI have been in education and served as a campus instructional technologist teachingteachers and students how to use and integrate technology for over 20 years. Much of thecollaborating I did with teachers was in the mathematics content area. I also taught middle mathfor several years and could relate to struggling to find innovative ways to teach students to beskilled problem solvers. It was important to me to develop a project that would benefit teachersin the area of technology and mathematics. I am not teaching on a campus as I have beenworking on obtaining a masters degree full time and needed a way for teachers to be able to participate in my project course so I decided to create an online learning experience.I co-host a weekly session in Elluminate called, Classroom 2.0 LIVE!. Our showfocuses on ways teachers can use technology tools with their students in the classroom. One of 7. 8our guests was Tim Fahlberg, and he shared how and why he created mathcasts with and forstudents. His website has a very large database of over 500 mathcasts for all levels of students.Some of the mathcasts in the online database were created by teachers and some dby students. Isaw the value of having access to this large database as a classroom math teacher and wanted tocreate a course where teachers created similar mathcasts and integrates technology tools intotheir teaching.Why It Is ImportantWhen teachers lack the skills necessary to teach technology and problem solving,students will not be adequately prepared for life after high school graduation. Teachers are busywith families and teaching responsibilities and have difficulty getting to professionaldevelopment sessions after school and on Saturdays. Time is limited and an online course canassist teachers in acquiring necessary skills to effectively prepare students for the 21stcentury.Online courses allow teachers to access the course anytime, anywhere. Flexibility andconvenience in participating in course modules is crucial to success and meets a critical need forteachers. Teachers can still take care of their families, focus on teaching responsibilities and beable to participate in the Moodle course at a time that is convenient for them without having toleave home or spend long hours after school and Saturdays for workshops.Additionally, an area that students struggle in academically is mathematics. Students arevery weak at solving word problems and equations and mathcasts are great ways to visuallydemonstrate complicated algorithms or math processes. Students can see the math processesdemonstrated in the mathcast and apply that knowledge to the current problems students arecompleting. For teachers that struggle to help students understand math concepts, having access 8. 9to the database of mathcasts can be a real lifesaver. Students can access the videos at home orschool and greatly improve their math skills. Having teachers and students understand theprocess of creating mathcasts can enhance math instruction and clarify concepts for struggling orspecial needs students.Integrating technology into math instruction is one way to increase rigor and relevance.Research has shown that when students create a product for others outside of their classroom, thequality of student performance is increased (ebowenLitReview.pdf, n.d.). When students havean outside audience, they become much more aware of the quality of their work and think muchmore critically when completing assignments (What really motivates middle school students?, n.d.). For this reason, I knew I wanted the online course to incorporate math and technologycomponents.How It Relates To Appropriate Theory For Your DisciplineIn 2007 and 2008, the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE)refreshed their national standards for technology. The standards are referred to as NETS forNational Education Technology Standards and have been developed to outline necessary skillsfor students, teachers and administrators. The NETS focus on critical thinking, creativity, and theskills necessary to be successful and help prepare students in the 21stcentury. Many of the NETSfor teachers and students are integrated into the Moodle course I designed.Math is one of the areas that students express having difficulty and do not feel successful.This is the reason that I strove to be an effective math teacher. I wanted to help make mathinteresting, fun and successful for my students. I read an article about a study in England thatimplemented new math programs and strategies. At the end of the school year, students 9. 10expressed that they felt that they could be successful in math and were more confident abouttheir math abilities. The integration of technology was one of the key factors that were cited forthe boost in students self esteem and increase in math achievement (Prabhu, n.d.). The Moodlecourse has both math and technology components that will help teachers teach students to bebetter problem solvers and feel more confident in their math abilities. Students will be interestedand motivated to participate in the learning activities that feature an integration of technologyinto math instruction. Student achievement will increase because of the skills learned fromparticipating in the Moodle course.How The Project Fits Into Teaching And Learning In Your FieldThe Moodle course was designed based on the best practices found when researchingarticles for the literature review. The articles discussed strategies to incorporate that make onlinelearning effective for course participants as well as components of efficacious math instruction.Technology is considered a key factor to assist in increasing rigor in math instruction andimproving the quality of student performance (Technology adds to students math comprehension | eSchoolNews.com, n.d.). The course was designed to meet the needs of busymath teachers by providing a way to acquire new skills anytime, an place. When teachers areskilled at demonstrating math concepts and using technology tools where appropriate, studentsare better prepared for life after high school graduation.The Moodle course focused on emphasizing to students that there are multiple ways tosolve word problems. Technology tools are used to create mathcasts demonstrating ways to solveword problems and equations. The specific skills or algorithms explained in the mathcasts willbe up to the participating teachers. Teachers will have flexibility in selecting skills and individualmath concepts that are meaningful and relevant for their particular students. The course provides 10. 11specific step by step directions to create mathcasts using VoiceThread and Jing using the contentselected by the participating teachers. This allows teachers to create technology products that arebeneficial to their students and ones hopefully that the teachers will use repeatedly.Problem StatementTeachers struggle to effectively teach the skills necessary for students to solve wordproblems and equations in mathematics. For students to be successful in school and as an adult,students need experience collaborating, opportunities to share strategies for solving wordproblems and think creatively. Technology can assist educators to design and deliver lessons thateffectively engage students in a variety of simulated real world and concrete experiences.Professional development is the primary means teachers acquire the skills needed toeffectively integrate technology into their teaching. The people that design professionaldevelopment programs limit the growth and acquisition of technology integration skills ofclassroom teachers by implementing ineffective programs that do not include best practices fordesigning effective professional development. Many of the current professional developmentprograms available to teachers are inadequate in providing instruction for teachers on designingand delivering instructional opportunities for students that seamlessly integrate technology intotheir teaching. Thus, students do not receive adequate instruction or develop the skills necessaryfor success as problem solvers in mathematics in the 21st-century.According to the article written by Guskey (2002), evaluations of professionaldevelopment support the statement that teachers feel that most professional developmentprograms are ineffective. Guskey states two factors are needed for professional developmentprograms to be considered effective. The first is determining what motivates the teachers to 11. 12actively engage in the professional development sessions and the second factor is to determinethe process by which lasting change in teachers occurs. These two factors are missing from manyprofessional development programs.In the article written by Lee (2005), a teacher commented, Just once I wish our staff development days could be used to meet some of my needs, there are so many areas where Ineed help. Lee continues that this teachers comment is a typical response after an in-service orworkshop and reports that decreasing enrollment in professional development sessions and a lackof teachers motivation for staff development was a result of the session not meeting teachers needs. Improvement in instruction is difficult without effective professional developmentprograms.According to Birman, B., Desimone, L., Garet, M., Porter, A., & Yoon, K. S. (2001),teachers stated that professional development is more likely to be viewed as effective inimproving teachers knowledge and skills if the sessions are built upon previous skills and formpart of a coherent program for teacher learning. Effective sessions built on content teachers havealready learned or are familiar with, emphasizes content aligned to current standards already inuse and supports teachers in building support systems to communicate with other teachers alsotrying to improve their teaching in similar ways presented in the professional developmentsessions are viewed as effective professional development sessions.Description of StakeholdersThe stakeholders for this project are the future teachers and their students as well as theiradministrators. The students in the participating teachers classes and their parents are also 12. 13stakeholders. Additionally, the members of the school boards of the teachers school districts are stakeholders associated with the participants of the Moodle course.Formative Evaluation Questions1. Was the instructional goal achieved?2. What features are lacking that the learners will need to successfully complete thecourse?3. Which activities need revision because they are incomplete or not clear?4. Which directions were not clear?5. What areas of the course might a learner need additional support beyond the itemsincluded in the course help resources and documents?6. What errors were found in the course?7. Which learning activities were out of sequence?8. Which course modules were too easy or too difficult?Goal StatementBased on the data gathered from the needs analysis the following goal statement waswritten: Given an inclusive classroom setting, fifth to eighth grade teachers will use technology,such as VoiceThread, to create video tutorial lessons, a mathcast, that will improve students ability to solve word problems in mathematics. A mathcast is a screencast with audiodemonstrating mathematical processes or algorithms (Fahlberg, Fahlber-Stojanovska, & 13. 14MacNeil, 2006). Responses on both the survey and questionnaire indicated the lack ofcollaborative activities and experiences with technology as reasons for students weak andineffective problem solving skills. Additionally, literature review sources support this reason forweak problem solving skills (Wilburne, 2006). 14. 15CHAPTER TWO: LITERATURE REVIEWDue to the nature of the instructional problem, current sources were needed to find timelyinformation about online courses and ways to structure effective online professionaldevelopment about technology integration. As an elementary and middle math teacher, mathteachers seemed to struggle the most finding ways to integrate and use technology tools in mathinstruction. As a result, the desired content area to focus on for this capstone project would bemath instruction. Several aspects of online learning, math instruction and creating Moodlecourses to deliver professional development to teachers were researched.Each of the sources listed as references and used for the literature review wereappropriate for later use in developing the instructional unit and writing the capstone project. Allof the articles were from credible and reliable sources supported with the authors contact information and extensive reference lists or bibliographies. Every article accurately depictedfactual containing objective information with many articles listing the pros and cons ofdelivering professional development online. The articles contained great insight into elements ofonline learning that are necessary for learners to be successful and improve math instructionusing technology.For example, articles listed in the reference list were selected from the prestigious andreputable journals American School Board Journal (Rivero, 2006), American EducationalResearch Journal (Birman, Garet, Desimone, Porter Yoon, 2001) and Phi Delta Kappa(Christie, 2009).Additionally, several articles were found in the Technology & Learning periodicals.Many of the leading educational technologists write for this publication. Also chosen were two 15. 16articles from a periodical published by the International Society for Technology entitledLearning & Leading with Technology. Each article had information that contributed greatly tosome part of the process of the capstone project or research process (Van T Hooft, 2008) and(Vanides, 2007).Factors that Influence Human BehaviorMany factors influence the teachers behavior related to integrating technology. Teachersare sometimes intimidated and embarrassed to admit to colleagues and students that they do notknow how to use technology, computer equipment or create learning activities that integratetechnology components.Additionally, teachers often have negative attitudes towards using technology (Guskey,2002). Technology is seen as something new or not doing things they way they have always been done in the past. Early adopters are often met with great resistance from veteran teacherswho are ignorant of the potential and ways that technology can easily be incorporated into theirrepertoire (Knobel and Lankshear, 2009).According to Lee (2005), professional development is best delivered over a long periodwith a longer amount of time to implement the skills learned in the professional developmentsessions. Teachers need time to implement the skills learned and reflect upon their practice. Theyneed feedback and time to process what was learned. Effective professional development takestime to fully implement. This will be one of the key elements for consideration when developingthe instructional unit for teachers.Another factor that influences human behavior with regard to online professionaldevelopment is the structuring of the grouping of the participating teachers. Birman et al (2001) 16. 17state, Professional development designed for groups of teachers has a number of potential advantages. When teachers are grouped by grade levels, departments, campus or other designedgrouping, collaboration and conversations occur by the teachers that are much more meaningfuland relevant regarding the campus student population. Birman et al (2001) say that grouping teachers who share the same students develop a common understanding of campus improvementplans, objectives, goals and cultures and have greater influences over student achievement andimprovement in instruction. This factor is essential when creating online courses. Creating asense of community that fosters collaboration and sharing of ideas, resources and modeling ofhow to implement the skills in the classroom is a key factor to designing effective onlineprofessional development (Frederick, 2009).Barriers to SuccessThere are several barriers that prevent successful online professional developmentsessions and influence human behavior with regard to professional development. Effectiveprofessional development requires connections built upon previous curricular activities and thoseconnections must be part of a cohesive program for teacher learning (Birnam et al, 2001). Whensessions are not created with content that is connected or aligned to the teachers current curriculum, the effects of the professional development sessions will not be long lasting.Additionally, teachers need be able to communicate with other teachers about theirlearning. They need to be able to reflect and have extended time to implement and practice theskills learned in the professional development sessions (Lee, 2005). Teachers have meetings andparent conferences during the day making it difficult to meet collaboratively and practicetechnology skills learned at workshops and training sessions. Travel to locations for workshops 17. 18cost a loss of time and productivity (Pittinsky, 2005). Online professional development helpsmeet the growing demand for technology training for teachers.Too often, teachers avoid using technology because they do not know how to use certainsoftware applications or pieces of computer hardware. As a result, teachers have great difficultycreating learning activities using technology or computer equipment due to a lack of experienceand knowledge (Van T Hooft, 2008). Teachers quite often display ignorance and are intimidatedwhen integrating technology in the delivery of instruction in their content area(s).Continued reduction of technology courses and personnel to train teachers continues theproblem of ineffective professional development (Pittinsky, 2005). Without qualified personnelto train teachers, perpetuation of this negative cycle continues and teachers continue withouttraining and students graduate without 21stcentury skills. Attrition rates and layoffs are risingand trained personnel that are skilled at effectively integrating technology are declining. Tocombat this, online effective professional development can alleviate this burden if the sessionsare properly designed and delivered (Graham, Cagiltay, Lim, & Duffy, n.d.).Teacher groupings need to be structured to foster a community and prevent isolationthroughout professional development sessions. Sessions need to be extended in length and mustbe ongoing with feedback provided throughout the process (Bishop, 2006). In order for thesession to be successful, teachers need to be grouped in the sessions as a cohort or team to fostercommunication and support for one another as well as implement the skills learned. (Appleton,DeGroot, Lampe, & Carruth, 2009) Without this structuring, the sense of community will belacking and the cohesiveness needed for teachers to interact and have in-depth conversationsabout the technology integration skills presented will not occur (Guskey, 2002). 18. 19Best PracticesAfter reading through each of the articles, several things were presented as a means tocreate an effective professional development session and presented as a best practice whendesigning professional development sessions. The first was to begin with a clear idea of whatwas to be presented in the session (Sawchuk, 2009). Clear, laid out plans of a professionaldevelopment session and knowledge of which teachers will participate, session objectives,facilitators, groupings and course resources are important considerations and having thoseplanned out in advance are essential to the effectiveness of the session.Several of the articles mention the importance of training mentors or facilitators on thefunctions and duties of their role (Bishop, 2006) and (Vanides, 2007). Sawchuk (2009)recommends, Provide training for online course facilitators so they know how to supportteachers learning, guide an online discussion, and follow up with those teachers who arent engaging in discussions. According to Sawchuk (2009), the facilitated type of online professional developed is the preferred method as it is most flexible and convenient for teachersto access and allows teachers more opportunities to reflect on their practices with subject matterexperts, campus/district colleagues or fellow teachers participating in the professionaldevelopment session. Facilitated sessions were preferred over live sessions as a facilitatedsession can be accessed at a time convenient to the teacher and a live session often limited theflexibility of the online course.The grouping of the participants is essential for success and is another best practice toconsider when designing professional development sessions. According to Rivero (2006),Teachers should be in teams, working collaboratively around problems identified in their 19. 20schools that are related to their students. Sessions should be developed around valued andauthentic real world problems focused on the organizations culture or student population. This makes the learning more meaningful and relevant allowing in-depth conversations to occur witha natural support system developing.According to the article by Signer (2008), teachers need guidance and support to effectively participate in online discussions about teaching and learning. It is critical that online courses incorporate a discussion forum for teachers to share comments, ask questions andinteract with one another. This fosters a sense of belonging and community and is a necessaryelement for courses to be successful and positively impact instruction in the classroom. Manytimes students in face to face classes monopolize the discussion and do not allow everyone tocontribute as a participant in professional discourse (Groves, 2010).Creating a welcoming environment that fosters a safe venue to share and comment on thetopic of discussion without fear of being judged or laughed at is a necessary component foronline learning. When the conversation gets out of balance and is dominated by a few students,creativity and expression of ideas are thwarted. Successful courses that follow best practicesincorporate ways for the participants to interact with one another (Maikish, 2006). In the articleby Groves and Pugh (2010), the authors state the following about teachers participating in onlinecourses, Many have commented on the benefits they gain from learning from others in class andeveryone gets to join in the discussions. Effective online learning sessions structure learning activities that allow everyone an opportunity to share and contribute throughout the course(Branzburg, 2005).Another best practice to incorporate in a professional development session is the elementof professional communication. Communication and feedback needs to be ongoing, structured by 20. 21the facilitators by fostering a sense of community so the teachers feel comfortable responding toone another and taking risks professionally (Calvani, Fini, Molino, & Ranieri, 2010). Withinthese communities, when teachers feel comfortable, a professional exchange of ideas, curriculaand best practices for their classrooms occur (Fenton and Watkins, 2007). The quality ofinstruction and student achievement increases and the efficacy of the professional developmentsessions also increase (Pittinsky, 2005). Teachers can connect with other teachers around theworld any time of the day or night and participate in discussion forums as well as privateconversations. Carefully planned and structured professional development, with properlyconstructed communities, allow teachers to try out classroom practices and new skills and returnto the communities to pose questions, leave comments, share work samples or reinforceprofessional learning (Bishop, 2006). This best practice must be present in professionaldevelopment sessions to be effective and impact learning.Engaging activities foster student satisfaction and retention of content when coursemodules allow for interactivity among participants thus helping students to be successful whenapplying newly acquired skills in new situations. In the article by Lewis and Hamid, Informalconference areas allowed students the opportunity to build on interactions that were developed inother areas of the course. The informal conference areas allowed students to interact and to getto know one another. When concerns arose in an online course, students were more skilled atseeking help and participating in discussions as a result of previously interacting with othercourse participants (Good and Weaver, 2003). Whether the discussion was on topic or not wasnot a concern among course participants. As long as students were engaged and interacting,students were more satisfied and felt the online learning experience was more effective. 21. 22A final best practice that must be present pertains to the content of the professionaldevelopment session. The content must be directly aligned to state or content standards. If thecontent is developed by a third party, a requirement that the work be research based and alignedto content standards must be present (Bishop, 2006). Connections must be made for each of thelearning activities featured in the professional development session. Learning activities shouldbuild upon previous activities with follow up learning activities and feedback occurring in anatural progression. Without the connections to current standards and the current curriculum, thecontent will not be meaningful or relevant for the teachers and the sessions will be deemedineffective and poorly attended (Fontichiaro, 2008).Participating teachers must find the course content meaningful, relevant and connected towhat they are learning in the online course as well as what they are currently teaching in theirclassroom. For this reason, this best practice is a core component that is probably the mostimportant when designing a professional development session. If this element is missing, thesession will fall flat and be of little value. Therefore, when designing professional development,it is best to design with the end in mind and ensure that the connections to current content andstandards are present before proceeding with the design of the session. Outlining the content withspecific objectives and ensuring that items are relevant and directly aligned to the teachers current curriculum is an important first step to ensure that content will be relevant andmeaningful to participants (Lunenberg and Willemse, 2006). Once this has been established andthe foundation set with the content and connections, the rest of the best practices can beincorporated in the design. This one best practice is extremely important in order for learning tooccur and for the professional development session to be effective and impact instruction in theclassroom. 22. 23ConclusionOnline learning should not be just an extension of a face to face class or simply watchinga video posted online of a lecture session with no interactivity or engagement from the students.The article written by Merrill (n.d.) states that, Effective online courses use interactiveinstructional strategies and learning events that flow from and support course learning objectives.The activities for students are engaging and relevant to course objectives. Communication is one of the key components that must be structured into online learningactivities. According to the article written by Merrill (n.d.), The facilitator needs to be able toweave an effective learning experience from these interactive elements that is appropriate for thespecific online audience. The article continues to say that effective online learning is student centered with clear expectations communicated to course participants. Activities that fostercommunication among participants and offer opportunities to engage in course modules areviewed as effective online learning experiences by course participants (Merrill, n.d.).There are many articles about online learning and creating effective learning experiencesfor students. Development of best practices is essential when planning and designing onlinecourses. Learning activities should enrich and enhance online courses (Padmanabhan, 2009).Putting worksheets online is not a method for creating effective online learning although somemay view this as an acceptable learning activity. Adhering to the recommendations found in thisliterature review and other articles similar to those included here will enable any course designerto create a truly magnificent course with high student satisfaction and leave a lasting impact onclassroom instruction. 23. 24CHAPTER THREE: METHODOLOGYLearner AnalysisTo obtain information about the background experience on the respondents thatparticipated in the needs analysis, two instruments were created and administered online. Onewas an open ended survey and the other a questionnaire. After some of the respondents hadcompleted the survey or questionnaire it was recognized that initially questions that wouldgenerate demographic information were not included. As a result, the demographic informationfor each respondent is extremely limited. Requests for respondents to participate were solicitedthrough several microblogs and social networks allowing a large representation from all over theUnited States.Demographic InformationThe first tool to gather data was a questionnaire made using Google forms. Twentyteachers responded and each of the 20 respondents was a fifth through eighth grade mathematicsteacher in a public or private school. All respondents were from the United States except for oneteacher who was from Australia. Fifteen of the 20 respondents had 11 years of teachingexperience and years of experience teaching mathematics. Seventeen of the teachers usetechnology with students and 18 of the 20 respondents indicated they use technology withstudents for at least one to two hours per day or more. Eighteen of the 20 respondents indicatedthey had participated in online learning to acquire technical skill(s).The second instrument was a questionnaire embedded in a wiki page with four questionsasking about technology integration to teach problem solving. Six teachers responded to thequestions on the questionnaire asking about technology integration to assist teaching problem 24. 25solving in mathematics instruction. Four of the six teachers used technology integrated into theirmathematics instruction to solve word problems and all six teachers have used technology tosupport various parts of their mathematics curriculum. The teachers that responded taught sixthgrade math, PS-8thgrade math, 5thgrade math, 7thgrade math and K12 math with the number ofyears of experience ranging from one to five years to 21 or more years. There was a greatvariance of experience in the number of years of teaching with the six respondents.Requisite Skills and Prior KnowledgeParticipating teachers are expected to be able to navigate to a website on the internet.They will need to be able to type a minimal amount of words per minute; probably around 20 30 words per minute. Access to a digital camera will be required for some parts of theinstructional unit. Prior knowledge of how to retrieve the pictures from the camera will behelpful but not necessary. The process of importing the pictures will be demonstrated within thecourse modules but with so many different camera models and cables the processes can vary abit and may look different possibly causing concern for those new to using this technology.Various activities to support math instruction to strengthen student problem solving skills willutilize the internet and digital pictures.Target Audiences Prior Knowledge and Skills Related to the TopicNot all of the respondents have participated in online learning to learn technology skillsor are well versed in integrating technology into their mathematics instruction. Most hadparticipated in online learning sessions about math. Supplementary resources explaining waysthe teachers could maximize learning in an online session about technology are available forthose who need it. 25. 26The content of the technology activities will be mathematical skills or objectives selfselected by the participating teachers. This will allow teachers to focus on acquiring thetechnology integration skills and create activities as resources that are relevant, meaningful andapplicable to the current courses the participants teach.Attitudes and Motivation Towards TopicAs for the respondents motivation for learning, definitive answers for each persons motivation are not available. Questions related to each respondents attitude or motivation to usetechnology in their mathematics instruction were not asked on the online questionnaire.Questions were asked on the needs analysis whether teachers were using technology intheir classroom and if they were willing to participate in online learning about integratingtechnology to create a mathcast. Most teachers indicated they were using technology thatindicate they are supportive of technology integrated projects and that they would participate inonline learning sessions about creating mathcasts and are supportive of this online learninginitiative. Although the questions did not ask about teachers attitudes or motivations directly, the questions can lead to certain presumptions by the respondents positive answers.Additionally, teachers were asked why they felt students struggled when solving wordproblems in math. On the Google form survey a question was asked of the respondents toindicate why they believe students struggle solving word problems in mathematics. The answersthat received the most votes from the 20 responding teachers were lack of experience with realworld activities for students and lack of experience with real world activities for students respectively. This leads me to believe that teachers attitudes about using technology to support 26. 27math instruction is valued among the respondents and considered an important component in theteachers classrooms.Accommodations for Unique Characteristics of the RespondentsEach of the respondents that participated in the survey or questionnaire was a mathteacher that used technology to some degree. Although not all used technology to teach problemsolving to students, helping teachers to see the power of using technology to extend learningactivities and increase the level of critical thinking will be the ultimate outcome of the project.The teachers will have different backgrounds, levels of technology integration, varying technicalability levels and the process of creating learning activities that into account all of those variableswill be a challenge. The goal was to design learning activities that allow participating teachers toadd to their repertoire of instructional strategies and knowledge for teaching students how toapproach problem solving.Teachers will learn ways to integrate technology into mathematics instruction to improvestudent learning. Multiple ways to solve a word problem or equation will be shared as studentscreate a VoiceThread or a mathcast demonstrating their solution to a word problem or equation.Ways to facilitate a discussion about multiple approaches to problem solving and creatingscreencasts to visually display and narrate mathematical processes or algorithms will bepresented in an online learning experience in the Moodle course. Students will view, givefeedback about others problem solving strategies, discuss and reflect upon multiple ways tosolve a common word problem or equation after creating their own VoiceThread or mathcast.Teachers will participate in technology integrated activities to assess and reflect upon itemspresented in the online course and implemented with teachers students in their own classroom. 27. 28These activities will be presented in a manner that all users can be successful regardlessof past experience and skill level using and integrating technology into math instruction. Moodleallows for a variety of different types of content, media and information to be presented with avast number of activities and modules to implement. This allows for different ability levels andlearning styles to be addressed in the Moodle course fostering active engagement and successfulachievement of unit instructional goals.Learning Styles and OrientationsOf the 15 questions that did not relate to demographic information for each respondent,only one question asked about preferred learning styles. The question asked if the respondentspreferred online learning, face to face or a combination of both. Four of the 45 respondentsindicated they preferred online learning, five respondents indicated they preferred face to face,and the remaining 36 indicated they preferred a combination of face to face and online learningexperiences. According to the research found in the literature review and conversations witheducators in preparation for this project, most people prefer the convenience and flexibility ofonline courses. They also want to participate in conversations similar to those experienced inface to face courses. For this reason, I included live online meetings in Elluminate to provide theparticipating teachers an opportunity to interact with one another or ask questions about thecontent of the course modules. Combining opportunities for participating teachers to participatein synchronous and asynchronous learning activities will enhance instruction and enrich thelearning experiences. 28. 29Cultural CharacteristicsNone of the questions on the survey or questionnaire pertained to cultural characteristicsof the respondents.Formative Evaluation InstrumentsAs a measure to ensure that the Moodle course units, content and format course wereaccurate and meaningful for course participants, a formative evaluation was conducted.Evaluation questions were created to address the three phases of the formative evaluation processthat course reviewers will answer. The data collected from the reviewers was used to make surethe course objectives were met and to improve the course before implementation.Instruments Used for the SME PhaseSeveral questions were developed for the subject matter experts (SME) phase reviewersto answer regarding the components of the Moodle course. The questions were posted on aGoogle form and used to interview the SME reviewers. The reviewers responses weretranscribed onto the online Google form. A checklist was completed during the SMEsinterviews. The interview questionnaire contained six questions that asked for demographic dataand eight questions focused on the content of the Moodle. This was where the reviewersidentified course weaknesses and made suggestions to improve the Moodle course.Instruments Used for the One-to-One PhaseTwo instruments were completed for the reviewers of the one to one phase to complete.A post test and questionnaire were created for the reviewers to complete. The post test wasadministered once the reviewers were finished reviewing the course. The questionnaire was aGoogle form and all reviewers were sent the link to the questionnaire and to view the Moodlecourse. The reviewers completed the questionnaire and post test online. The online questionnaire 29. 30had six questions to gather demographic data from the one to one phase reviewers. There wereeight questions asking about the course content allowing the reviewers to make suggestions toimprove the course.Instruments Used for the Small Group PhaseA post test and survey were created for the reviewers to complete. The survey had sixquestions to gather demographic data from the small group phase reviewers. There were eightquestions asking about the structure, content, and sequencing of the items found in each courseunit. The following table demonstrates the evaluation questions that were asked of the reviewersof each phase. 30. 31Table 1Formative Evaluation Questions and InstrumentsFormative Evaluation Questions Data Collection Source(s) ofInstrument(s) Information1. Was the instructional goal achieved? Interview (I) SMEQuestionnaire (Q) 1 to 1Survey (S) Small group (SG)2. What features are lacking that will be I, Q and SE SME, 1 to 1, and SGneeded to successfully complete the course?3. Which activities need revision because I, Q and SE SME, 1 to 1, and SGthey are incomplete or not clear?4. Which directions were not clear? I, Q and SE SME, 1 to 1, and SG5. What areas might a learner need additional I, Q and SE SME, 1 to 1, and SGsupport beyond the items included in the coursehelp resources and documents?6. What errors were found in the course? I, Q and SE SME, 1 to 1, and SG7. Which learning activities were I, Q and SE SME, 1 to 1, and SGout of sequence?8. Which course modules were too I, Q and SE SME, 1 to 1, and SGeasy or too difficult?Data Collection Instruments and Sources for Answering Formative Evaluation Questions 31. 32Table 1, shown on the previous page, indicates which questions each phase of reviewerswere asked to address on the Google form. The reviewers responded to the questions on theGoogle form, except for the subject matter expert reviewers, and consented to share theirsuggestions for improving the Moodle course with the researcher. The researcher completed theonline checklist while interviewing each subject matter expert.Special PopulationsEach of the course participants will be a math teacher that uses technology to somedegree. Although not all of the teachers will have used technology to teach problem solving tostudents, helping teachers to see the power of using technology to extend learning activities andincrease the level of critical thinking will be the ultimate outcome of the project. The teacherswill have different backgrounds, levels of technology integration, varying ability levels andcreating learning activities that takes each of those variables into account will be a challenge sothat all participating in the capstone project add value to their repertoire of instructionalstrategies and knowledge of teaching students how to approach problem solving.Teachers will learn ways to integrate technology into mathematics instruction to improvestudent learning. Discussions with students will occur in the teachers classrooms about multiple ways to solve a word problem or equation after students create a VoiceThread or a mathcastdemonstrating their solution or explanation on how to a word problem or equation. Students willview, give feedback about others problem solving strategy, discuss and reflect upon the problemsolving approach used to solve a common word problem or equation.These activities will be presented in a manner that all users can be successful regardlessof past experience and skill level using and integrating technology into math instruction. Moodle 32. 33allows for a variety of different types of content, media and information to be presented in anonline learning experience with a vast number of activities and modules to employ to use whenimplementing an online course. This allows for different ability levels and learning styles ofstudents to be addressed in the Moodle course fostering active engagement and successfulachievement of unit instructional goals.MaterialsTo successfully participate in the Moodle course, a computer with internet access will beessential. Teachers and students will need to use a digital camera or scanner to upload theimages for mathcast video or VoiceThread. The teachers will select a math concept of theirchoice from their district/campus math curriculum for topics of the technology projects.Additionally, teachers will create an account at VoiceThread and Screencast.com as well asdownload the Jing software from the Jing Project site at http://www.jingproject.com.Performance Objectives1. Given the introductory materials located in the online Moodle course about usingVoiceThread, Jing software and websites to create a mathcast, the learner will review and read the materials with a 100% completion rate.2. Given the introductory materials presented in the online Moodle course, the learner willwrite a reflection piece about and post it in the Moodle discussion forum with acompletion rate of 100%.3. Given a live Elluminate conference, the learner will participate in the webinar to reviewand share experiences about creating a screencast, or mathcast, with a 100% attendance rate. 33. 344. Given the use of the VoiceThread software and website, the learner will create aVoiceThread demonstrating the problem solving strategy used to solve a word problemwith a100% completion rate.5. Given the use of the Jing screencast software and website, the learner will create amathcast demonstrating the individual steps to a problem solving strategy used to solve aword problem with a completion rate of 100%.6. Given a VoiceThread video created about problem solving, the learner will post the linkto the VoiceThread creation in a new post in the Moodle lesson two discussion forumwith a completion rate of 100%.7. Given a mathcast video that was uploaded to the Jing/Screencast.com website account,the learner will post the link to the mathcast in a new post Moodle in the Moodle lessonthree discussion forum with a completion rate of 100%.Learning Theories and Instructional StrategiesSince the Moodle course is online, I copied and pasted each unit below. At the end ofeach unit/lesson is a discussion about one of the nine events identified by Gagne that applies tothat lesson. Much of the course exhibits traits of the constructivism and cognitivism learningtheories. The learning activities that I created allow participants to be creative and use criticalthinking skills when creating technology products based on a problem solving search or strategyto a word problem or equation. In the article by Yang and Cornelios (2005), the authors state thatan online course, requires the instructor to design collaborative and problem-based projectswhich will involve students to think critically, actively, and deeply. The introduction to theexportable unit starts below. 34. 35Math Problem Solving Moodle CourseThis Moodle course about Math Problem Solving was created to enable teachers toacquire technology integration skills to assist students to become better problem solving inmathematics. Teachers struggle to effectively teach the skills necessary for students to solveword problems in mathematics. For students to be successful in the 21st-century, students needexperience collaborating, opportunities to share strategies for solving word problems and thinkcreatively. Teachers often lack the skills and knowledge necessary to implement lessons thatdemonstrate how to strategically solve word problems. Technology can assist educators to designand deliver lessons that effectively engage students in a variety of simulated real world andconcrete experiences.Participants will learn how to create VoiceThreads and mathcasts to teach students to bebetter problem solvers. Teachers will participate in weekly lessons featuring strategies forstudents to create these items to explore multiple ways to solve problems in mathematics.Reflection activities to summarize the learning that took place as well as ways to improvestudent learning and teaching will occur through professional discourse via blogs and wiki pages.Be sure to check out the News Forum for the course outline and overview.News ForumWelcome to the Math Problem Solving Moodle Course! This course will help you createa VoiceThread video and mathcast allowing you to enhance your mathematicsinstruction with your students. When students know they have an audience, the quality oftheir work increases. Students become motivated and excited about learning and morecritical in their analysis and thinking on classroom assignments.Course Outline: 35. 36Lesson 1 - Course Overview/Elluminate ConferenceLesson 2 - Using VoiceThread to demonstrate how to solve a word problemLesson 3 - Using Jing to create a video to explain how to solve a word problemElluminate ConferenceLesson 4 - Teach students how to use VoiceThread to demonstrate how to solve a wordproblemLesson 5 - Teach students how to use Jing to create a video to explain how to solve aword problemElluminate ConferenceLesson 6 - Analysis of student technology video products and student discussionYou will have the opportunity to participate in live Elluminate web conferences to shareexperiences and concerns throughout the course. During each conference you can alsoshare the products you and your students created to teach students how to solve wordproblems and how to be more effective problem solvers.If you have any questions or concerns, please email me at [email protected]. Iappreciate any feedback you can give me regarding the outline or lessons of this course.Thanks,Kim CaiseUnit OnePerformance Objectives:1. Given the introductory materials located in the online Moodle course about usingVoiceThread, Jing software and websites to create a mathcast, the learner will review and read the materials with a 100% completion rate. 36. 372. Given the introductory materials presented in the online Moodle course, the learner willwrite a reflection piece about and post it in the Moodle discussion forum with acompletion rate of 100%.3. Given a live Elluminate conference, the learner will participate in the webinar to reviewand share experiences about creating a screencast, or mathcast, with a 100% attendance rate.Unit 1 - Overview of Technology Integrated Activities in Mathematics InstructionLessons that integrate technology can be great motivators and visually stimulating tostudents. Many times students struggle with word problems in math as they have difficultyconceptualizing and visualizing the problem. Lessons that incorporate technology can assiststudents see the problem solving approach used to solve a word problem. As you watch thevideos and listen to the podcast below, keep in mind how technology impacted the level ofinstruction.Math VoiceThread ExampleMathcast VideoMathcast PresentationPodcast: "Mathcasts, Clickers and the Future of Education" (interview between JonUdell and Tim Fahlberg)Mathcast Article"What is a VoiceThread?" Video (optional resource)Week 1 Reflection 37. 38In your opinion, why do lessons that incorporate technology increase studentachievement more so than lessons without technology?ProceduresDirect the participating teachers to the following link:http://caisefiles.edumoot.com/course/view.php?id=11 and click on Math Problem Solving. This will take teachers to the main page of the Caise Files Moodle Course.There are several courses inthe Moodle course andteachers needs to click on theMath Problem Solving course.They will need to do this eachtime they login to the Math Problem Solving Course.Inform the teachers that they will need to create an account for the course. After clicking on theMath Problem Solving course for the first time, the teachers will be taken to the following 38. 39screen.The steps to create a new account are listed above the button to Create new account. An email will be sent and will require the teacher to confirm by clicking on the link in the email.Once confirmed the teacher will need toenroll in the course. The teachers will needto scroll down the page until they see theheading Administration in the left menu. The teachers need to click on Enrol me in this course (The person who designed Moodle is from Australia and their spellingis a bit different from ours in the USA). Once this has been completed, the teachers will be backat the main view in the Math Problem Solving Course.Participating teacherswill review and watch the 39. 40instructional videos and documents in Unit 1. Upon completion of reviewing the introductorymaterials, teachers will respond to the Week 1 Reflection topic by clicking on the Week 1 link.They will then click on Add a new discussion topic to open the text box to create and write their reflection post as shown below. When finished, they teachers click on Post to Forum.Teachers will have the opportunity to participate in a live webinar in Elluminate(http://www.elluminate.com) to discuss the course objectives, expectations, materials andreflection posts. The exact date and time will be shared with participants upon completion ofUnit 1.Unit TwoPerformance Objective:1. Given the use of the VoiceThread software and website, the learner will create aVoiceThread demonstrating the problem solving strategy used to solve a wordproblem with a100% completion rate.Unit 2 - Creating a VoiceThreadThe focus this week is to create a digital product to demonstrate how to solve a wordproblem or equation for your students. You can draw a picture, write out the equation,take a digital picture or scan in multiple images to demonstrate the solution to your posedmath problem. 40. 41Steps to create a VoiceThread video:1. Create an account at the VoiceThread website. You will want to create an educationVoiceThread account. See directions below.2. Create the images you will use in your VoiceThread video.3. Scan and upload the images to your VoiceThread account.4. Add the audio explanation for each step of the solution to solve the word problem orequation. (Note: Be sure to add narration for each image if you are using more than oneimage.)5. Copy the URL to your video and post in the discussion forum for others to view.6. Be sure to leave comments via text, voice or cell phone on other participantsVoiceThread videos.Educational VoiceThread account creation directions PDF documentGeometry VoiceThread Example (VoiceThread Examples posted in the onlinecourse)VoiceThread video in the Classroom - Will RichardsonVoiceThread YouTube TutorialAdding Comments to a VoiceThreadVoiceThread Discussion ForumPlease post the link to your VoiceThread video with your reflective response tothe discussion question of: "How can using VoiceThread enhance math instruction?"Digital Product Wiki 41. 42ProceduresParticipating teachers will set up a VoiceThread account (http://www.voicethread.com)and review the steps to create as their first VoiceThread. Teachers will select a mathconcept/topic of their choice to demonstrate in the VoiceThread.After creating an account at VoiceThread, teachers will create a VoiceThread and uploadimages/illustrations to demonstrate how to solve a math word problem or equation. Once theimages are uploaded, the teachers will record an audio narrative comment explaining each step tosolve the word problem or equation.Upon completion of the VoiceThread, the teachers will post a reflection piece to thediscussion forum and share their link or embed their VoiceThread on the Digital Product wiki.Unit ThreePerformance Objective:1. Given the use of the Jing screencast software and website, the learner will create amathcast demonstrating the individual steps to a problem solving strategy used tosolve a word problem with a completion rate of 100%.Unit 3 - Creating a MathcastThe focus this week is to create a digital product to demonstrate how to solve a wordproblem or equation for your students. You can draw a picture, write out the equation,take a digital picture or scan in multiple images to demonstrate the solution to your posedmath problem. 42. 43Steps to create a mathcast:1. Select the word problem or equation to use in the mathcast.2. Create an account at http://www.jingproject.com to post recordings.3. Install Jing.4. Plan the storyline tone of images and script for the explanation demonstrating theproblem solving approach.5. Record your mathcast using Jing.6. Copy the URL to your video and post in the discussion forum for others to view.7. Be sure to view one other participants mathcast and leave a positive comment.Mathcast websiteCreating a Mathcast TutorialPencasts"Lets Make a Mathcast" Presentation = MACUL 2009Mathcasts ToolsMathcasts ExamplesMathcast Discussion ForumPlease post the link to your mathcast with your reflective response to the discussionquestion of: "How can using mathcasts enhance math instruction?"ProceduresParticipating teachers will set up a Jing account (http://www.screencast.com) andreview the steps to create their first screencast or mathcast. Teachers will select a mathconcept/topic of their choice to demonstrate in the mathcast. 43. 44After creating an account at Screencast.com, teachers will create a mathcast and uploadimages/illustrations to demonstrate how to solve a math word problem or equation. Once theimages are uploaded, the teachers will record an audio narrative explaining each step to solve theword problem or equation.Upon completion of the mathcast, the teachers will post a reflection piece to the discussionforum and share their link or embed their mathcast on the Digital Product wiki.Elluminate ConferencePerformance Objective:1. Given a live Elluminate conference, the learner will participate in the webinar toreview and share experiences about creating a screencast, or mathcast, with a 100% attendance rate.Elluminate ConferenceIt is time for an Elluminate web conference! The link to the designated Elluminate room will beposted here just prior to the conference with proposed dates and times.ProceduresTeachers will have the opportunity to participate in a live webinar in Elluminate(http://www.elluminate.com) to discuss the course objectives, course expectations, reflectionposts and experiences using VoiceThread and Jing. Teachers will share the VoiceThread andmathcast videos created. The exact date and time will be shared with participants upon 44. 45completion of Unit 3.Unit FourPerformance Objective:Given the use of the VoiceThread software and website, the learner will create aVoiceThread demonstrating the problem solving strategy used to solve a word problemwith a100% completion rate.1. Given a VoiceThread video created about problem solving, the learner will postthe link to the VoiceThread creation in a new post in the Moodle lesson twodiscussion forum with a completion rate of 100%.Unit 4 - Students Create and Share VoiceThread VideosThe focus of instruction for this unit is to have students create a VoiceThreaddemonstrating their problem solving approach to the same word problem or equation.1. Select problem for students to solve.2. Group students into pairs or trios.3. Show students VoiceThread examples.4. Demonstrate to students how to create a VoiceThread and leave a text, audio orcell phone comment.5. Post the URL to each groups VoiceThread emphasizing multiple problemsolving approaches to the word problem or equation.VoiceThread Discussion Forum 45. 46ProceduresTeachers will now demonstrate to their students in their own classrooms how to create aVoiceThread. Students will be divided into groups and all assigned the same math word problemor equation to explain in the VoiceThread. Student groups will decide the best way to solve,explain and demonstrate in the VoiceThread. The students will upload images and then add theiraudio comments to explain each step of the problem/equation just as the teachers did. Uponcompletion, student groups will share their VoiceThreads and discuss the various ways thestudent groups chose to solve the word problem or equation. Discussion with students shouldfocus on the fact that each student group had the same problem but may have used a differentproblem solving approach or oral explanation to solve a common problem.Upon completion, teachers will create a journal entry to the topic of, Share your experiences about your students creating VoiceThreads.Unit FivePerformance Objective:1. Given the use of the Jing screencast software and website, the learner will create amathcast demonstrating the individual steps to a problem solving strategy used tosolve a word problem with a completion rate of 100%.2. Given a mathcast video that was uploaded to the teachers or class Jing/Screencast.com website account, the learner will post the link to the mathcastin a new post Moodle in the Moodle lesson three discussion forum with acompletion rate of 100%. 46. 47Unit 5 - Students Create and Share MathcastsThe focus of instruction for this unit is to have students create a mathcast demonstratingtheir problem solving approach to the same word problem or equation.1. Select problem for students to solve.2. Group students into pairs or trios.3. Show students mathcast examples.4. Demonstrate to students how to create a mathcast using Jing.5. Post the URL to each groups mathcast emphasizing multiple problem solvingapproaches to the word problem or equation.Mathcast Discussion ForumProceduresTeachers will now demonstrate to their students in their own classrooms how to create amathcast. Students will be divided into groups and all assigned the same math word problem orequation to explain in the mathcast. Student groups will decide the best way to solve, explain anddemonstrate in the mathcast. The students will upload images and then add their audio narrativeto explain each step of the problem/equation just as the teachers did. Upon completion, studentgroups will share their mathcasts and discuss the various ways the student groups chose to solvethe word problem or equation. Discussion with students should focus on the fact that eachstudent group had the same problem but may have used a different problem solving approach ororal explanation to solve a common problem. 47. 48Upon completion, teachers will create a journal entry to the topic of, Share your experiences about your students creating mathcasts.Elluminate ConferencePerformance Objective:1. Given a live Elluminate conference, the learner will participate in the webinar toreview and share experiences about creating a screencast, or mathcast, with a 100% attendance rate.Elluminate ConferenceIt is time for an Elluminate web conference! The link to the designated Elluminate room will beposted here just prior to the conference with proposed dates and times.ProceduresTeachers will have the opportunity to participate in a live webinar in Elluminate(http://www.elluminate.com) to discuss the course objectives, course expectations, reflectionposts and experiences using VoiceThread and Jing. Teachers will share the VoiceThread andmathcast videos created. The exact date and time will be shared with participants uponcompletion of Unit 5.Unit 6 - Course Culminating ActivityThe Math Problem Solving Course is coming to a close. Throughout the past units, youhave learned to create and comment on a VoiceThread and demonstrate to students howto create their own VoiceThread video. After creating VoiceThread videos, you created a 48. 49mathcast using Jing and guided your students to create their own mathcast using acommon word problem or equation. Lastly, you discussed with your students how wordproblems or equations can be solved multiple ways. As the final activity, you will embedone of the mathcast videos into a wiki page within the Math Problem Solving CourseWiki.Steps to embed the mathcast into the Math PS Course wiki page:1. Copy the embed code from the selected mathcast video from your Jing account athttp://www.jingproject.com.2. Click on Wikis under Activities.3. Click on the Digital Product Wiki.4. In the textbox of the wiki page entry, type the title of the mathcast and your name.5. Press the enter key to go to the next line.6. Type the letters aaa. This will serve as a placeholder for the embed code.7. After typing aaa, click the icon in the toolbar at the top of the wiki textboxwindow.8. You will now see the HTML code instead of the plain text of the title you just typed.9. Locate the aaa in the textbox.10. Highlight the aaa and paste the embed code over the aaa.11. Click Preview or Save when finished. Make sure you click Save when finished withthe process.12. You should see the title of the mathcast, your name, and the player to play the 49. 50mathcast.13. Congratulations!ProceduresThis is the final activity of the Math Problem Solving Moodle Course. Teachers willembed each of their students VoiceThreads and mathcasts to the Digital Product Wiki. The steps to embed each video is listed in the Moodle course and pasted above. Teachers can create classwikis or blogs and embed the technology videos on those websites in addition to the MoodleDigital Product Wiki. Teachers can share the steps with students and have the students embedtheir videos on designed websites if they choose.The teachers will then lead the final discussion with students stressing the process ofdeveloping a step by step approach to problem solving when solving word problems orequations. Emphasize the key point that there is more than one way to solve a word problem orequation but all problem solving strategies must yield the correct answer. Have students sharetheir experiences creating a VoiceThread and mathcast to solve problems and question studentsif the technology helped them to solve problems more effectively.Elluminate ConferencePerformance Objective:1. Given a live Elluminate conference, the learner will participate in the webinar toreview and share experiences about creating a screencast, or mathcast, with a 100% attendance rate. 50. 51Elluminate ConferenceIt is time for an Elluminate web conference! The link to the designated Elluminate roomwill be posted here just prior to the conference with proposed dates and times.ProceduresTeachers will have the opportunity to participate in a live webinar in Elluminate(http://www.elluminate.com) to discuss the course objectives, course expectations, reflectionposts and experiences using VoiceThread and Jing. Teachers will share the VoiceThread andmathcast videos created. The exact date and time will be shared with participants uponcompletion of Unit 6.Learning TheoryUsing Gagnes nine events of instruction, unit one was designed to set the stage for thelearners and get the students ready for learning. The students and the participating teachers willreview the introductory materials in the online Moodle course to prepare them for theassignments in the course. After gaining their attention by reviewing the introductory materials,the participants will be informed of the course objectives through a post in the news forum wishis the second event of instruction of Gagnes nine step process. The participants will be directedto review and read the news forum post to help them become familiar with the forum and otherfeatures of the Moodle.In the first unit, students will view documents and videos that inform students and showexamples of the two technology products they will be creating in upcoming lessons in theMoodle course. After viewing the documents, students will participate in a live web conference 51. 52to discuss concerns and ideas for the upcoming technology participating teachers and theirstudents will create.Upon conclusion of unit one, the teachers reviewing the documents and videos, theteachers will participate in a live webinar in Elluminate (http://www.elluminate.com). Teacherswill be able to ask questions about the course objectives, my expectations as the course designeror course activities. I will also give feedback as well as solicit feedback from the teachers as Iwould like to be able to offer this course to additional teachers outside of this core group ofparticipating teachers. Teachers will write a reflection piece in the discussion forum of Unit 1and will serve as discussion starters in the Elluminate conference as well.Unit Two includes several examples of VoiceThread videos are included in Unit Two tostimulate prior recall of how to create a VoiceThread and what a VoiceThread and howVoiceThreads are structured. New content is presented for those who do not know how to createa VoiceThread as well as learners are guided in creating a VoiceThread with lots of examplesand help resources representing the fourth and fifth events of instruction identified in Gagnes theory of learning. The participating teachers also put into practice what has been presented inthe Moodle course by creating their own VoiceThread demonstrating how to solve a math wordproblem or equation. This depicts the sixth event of instruction.Unit Three contains resources and examples of the process to create a mathcast video.The resources include in the unit are there to stimulate prior recall of how to create a mathcastand what a mathcast video consists of including how the mathcast is structured. New content ispresented for those who do not know how to create a screencast, or mathcast, as well learnerguidance is provided to the participating teachers as they create a mathcast with examples and 52. 53help resources representing the fourth and fifth events of instruction identified in Gagnes theory of learning. The participating teachers also put into practice the new learning presented in theMoodle course and create their own mathcast demonstrating how to solve a math word problemor equation. This depicts the sixth event of instruction.In between some of the course units I have scheduled an Elluminate web conference.This is the only synchronous event scheduled throughout the course. Participation in theEllluminate sessions are an opportunity for me, the Moodle course designer, to give feedback tothe participating teachers and answer questions in a live webinar held in Elluminate. Theteachers will receive specific feedback as to whether they have met the course objectives so farand with additional guidance or support provided to the learners as necessary. Providingfeedback to the learners is the seventh event of Gagnes nine events of instruction.The fourth and fifth units require the teachers to teach their students how to create aVoiceThread and mathcast. The teachers will apply what they have learned in the previous unitsof the course. Performance will be elicited from the teachers and their students to create atechnology product similar to what they created emphasizing the comparison of problem solvingstrategies used by students. The teachers will guide their students to elicit performance from theirstudents. Feedback will be provided to the students and teachers and performance will beassessed using a rubric and discussion question post in the Moodle course discussion forum forunits four and five.Unit six serves as the culminating unit of the Moodle course and is the most importantunit. This unit is where all of the puzzle pieces fall into place for the students. The mathcastvideos and VoiceThreads have been shared in the teachers classrooms with different ways to 53. 54solve a common word problem or equation discussed after viewing the technology products. Inthe discussion with students, teachers present the idea that there are multiple ways to solveproblems and discuss features of the different problem solving strategies that were particularlyeffective. The main purpose of this unit is for students to take what they learned throughout thiscourse as means to enhance the retention of the skills learned and transferring those skills tonew problems or settings (TIP: Theories, n.d.).ProcedureFor the purposes of conducting this formative evaluation, three phases of reviewers wereselected and asked to complete questionnaires sharing suggestions to improve the Moodlecourse. The content, course structure, and learning activities were examined for areas that needrevision.SME PhaseFor the subject matter expert phase, colleagues were contacted that are experts intechnology and familiar with math standards at fifth through eighth grades. The main focus ofthe SME phase was upon the technology tools and learning activities. Each reviewer was invitedto complete an online questionnaire after viewing the Moodle course. This was one of the firstthings done as part of the formative evaluation process. The formative evaluation began the firstpart of May 2010 with the expectations that the reviewers would respond within a week on theGoogle form. Each reviewer was interviewed and responded to each question on thequestionnaire. The researcher completed the interview checklist during the individual interviewswith each subject matter reviewer.One to-one Phase 54. 55For the one to one phase, colleagues were contacted that were experienced in teachingmath and using technology. The researcher desired participants that were representative of thetarget audience for the Moodle course. The main focus of this phase was to determine if theactual teachers participating in the Moodle course will be able to successfully complete thecourse and use the technology tools featured in the learning activities.Reviewers were asked to complete the online questionnaire after viewing the onlinecourse. The questionnaire asked the reviewers to focus on specific aspects of the supplementarymaterials, sequence of learning activities and thoroughness of the content and directions. Uponcompletion of the Moodle course, the reviewers completed a post test based on the content of thecourse.Implementation of this phase was one of the initial things done to begin the formativeevaluation process. The start date of the formative evaluation was originally scheduled for thebeginning of May 2010 with the expectation that the reviewers would respond within a week onthe Google form. The timeline was not adhered to as hoped by the researcher and the evaluationwas delayed several weeks.Small group PhaseIn the small group phase, colleagues that were math teachers and relatively new tointegrating technology were asked to participate as a reviewer in the formative evaluation. Thisis the target audience for the actual course. The teachers that will participate in the Moodlecourse in the future will be expert math instructors at fifth through eighth grades.The main focus of this phase was about using the technology tools in the learningactivities. Each reviewer was asked to complete the online questionnaire after reviewing theonline course. The questionnaire asked the reviewers to focus on various aspects of the course 55. 56paying particular attention to the learning activities and clarity of the course content anddirections. This part of the formative evaluation began around the middle of June 2010 aftermaking some of the changes that the SMEs and one to one reviewers suggested. The timelinewas delayed several weeks while waiting for reviewers to agree to evaluate the course andcomplete the questionnaire and post tests. Eventually reviewers responded resulting in only sixsmall group reviewers. As with the one to one phase, upon completion of the Moodle course, thereviewers completed a post test based on the content of the courseIntegrity of the DataThe questionnaires were online and the reviewers responded and submitted their answersonline. The researcher was the only person that viewed the responses from each phase ofreviewers. The reviewers did not view one anothers submissions thus preserving the integrity ofthe data and responses from the reviewers.Permissions and AnonymityThe reviewers of the small group phase responded to a final question on the Google formasking if they consented to share their comments and suggestions with the evaluator byindicating consent with a yes or no answer and typing their name in the last field on thequestionnaire. 56. 57TimelineBelow is a tentative timeline indicating when each task will be implemented.Activities May2010May2010May2010June2010June2010June2010SME review and InformedConsent periodData Analysis and RevisionsOne-to-One EvaluationsData Analysis and RevisionsSmall Group EvaluationData Analysis and ReportingFigure 1. Projected Timeline for the Formative EvaluationTechnology Used in the Curriculum Description and RationaleThe Moodle course is itself a technology product. I added several Portable Data Format(PDF) documents of instructions and supplementary resources for the participating teachers touse for help, clarification or further explanation. The PDFs and course units contain graphics andimages that explain the expectations for each unit and the process required to successfullycomplete the learning activities. Short videos and VoiceThread examples were added to thecourse to serve as a model for the technology products the teachers and students will create.Several websites were included as resources along with a podcast of an interview with themathcast concept creator, Tim Fahlberg. The teachers are able to select any or all of the 57. 58resources they deem necessary to successfully complete each learning activity. The inclusion ofsynchronous live web conferences in Elluminate will allow participants to interact, engage anddiscuss the resources or learning activities found in the course units.At the end of each Moodle course unit, participants are asked to complete a discussionforum post reflecting upon the content learned and the technology products created.Additionally, throughout the course, participants will have the opportunity to join live webinarsto interact with other course participants and engage in professional discourse about the coursecontent and materials as well as the course learning activities. These items were included in thecourse to help foster a sense of community among the course participants. This is one of the bestpractices that will help participants be successful mentioned in several sources of the literaturereview. Participants can develop professional relationships and serve as advisors or soundingboards for ideas when creating VoiceThreads or mathcast videos. According to the literaturereview sources, this will create a sense of belonging and community among the participants(Lewis, 2006). 58. 59CHAPTER FOUR: RESULTSThe questionnaires for each group of reviewers to complete were created using Googleforms. All of the instruments were stored online allowing all data to accumulate in a spreadsheet.This made it easy to access and disaggregate the data. Similar questions were on each of the datacollection tools. The researcher combined data from the phases and broke things down intoqualitative and quantitative data versus analyzing and representing the data from each phaseindependently as many of the suggestions from the reviewers from all three phases were verysimilar. The data was more manageable and easier to understand, present and interpret in thismanner for the researcher. Below are the results presented in narrative and table forms.Qualitative Data AnalysisEach course unit that reviewers mentioned needing improvement or revision wasexamined by the researcher. One area in particular cited by the reviewers referred to thedirections for creating a VoiceThread. Although some changes were made after each phase, thedirections were still not explicit or specific enough for teachers new to technology according tothe reviewers. The skill level of the reviewers of the one to one and small group phasesdecreased as well as familiarity of using Moodle for online learning and their comments seemedto reflect this notion. This was fantastically eye opening and extremely helpful as it brought tolight issues that were relevant to the target audience for the actual course. The comments allowedthe researcher to drill down on course details for teachers and focus on items necessary toprovide assistance to teachers that are inexperienced technology users..Additionally, several reviewers suggested changing the order of the course units. Insteadof having teachers create a VoiceThread and then a mathcast with their students following the 59. 60same process, some suggested having the teachers create a VoiceThread followed by theirstudents doing the same before switching to using Jing to create a mathcast. The reviewers statedthat continuing with VoiceThread before moving to Jing to create mathcasts would make bettersense to the lesser technically skilled teachers and enable those teachers and students to besuccessful if the technology products were created with the same tool back to back instead ofswitching back and forth between tools.Quantitative Data AnalysisMuch of the data collected from the formative evaluation was qualitative in nature. Thereviewers of the small group and one to one phase reviewers were asked to take a post test afterreviewing the course. Each reviewer surpassed the cut score of 80% with a score of 100%.Table 1Formative Evaluation Post Test ScoresReviewer Phase/Number ScoreSmall Group Phase Reviewer 1 100Small Group Phase Reviewer 2 100Small Group Phase Reviewer 3 100Small Group Phase Reviewer 4 100Small Group Phase Reviewer 5 100Small Group Phase Reviewer 6 100One to One Phase Reviewer 1 100One to One Phase Reviewer 2 100Number of Reviewers Meeting Cut Score of 80% 8 60. 61Discussion of Quantitative Data in Table 1As noted in the table on the previous page, all reviewers successfully met the cut score of80%. All of reviewers of the one to one and small group phase reviewers were able to correctlyanswer each question on the post-test.Table 2, shown below, demonstrates the average number of years in education for thereviewers of the subject matter expert, one to one and small group phase reviewers. A table wascreated to compare the number of years in education among the reviewers. Demographic data foreach reviewer was examined and the average number of years in education was calculated foreach of the three phases of the formative evaluation.Table 2Average Number of Years in Education for Each Phase of ReviewersPhase Average Number of Years in EducationSubject Matter Expert Phase 31.5 yearsOne to One Phase 19 yearsSmall Group Phase 18.5 yearsDiscussion of Table 2As you can see, the average number of years in education varied greatly for each phase ofthe formative evaluation. It is interesting that the more years in education for each reviewer, themore data the reviewer shared with the researcher. 61. 62Table 3Revisions Suggested from Reviewers of Formative Evaluation PhasesRevisions Suggested PhaseTypo in goal statement and wording of reflection question forunit 1 is awkwardSubject Matter Expert (SME)Directions not clear about posting URLs for mathcast videos SMEClarify wording of directions for embedding videos in wiki SME and Small GroupRemove HTML coding SMEClarify purpose for Elluminate conference SMEDuplicate embedded video SMEClarify purpose and reason for inclusion of additional resources SMEClarify process for posting to the course discussion forums SME and 1 to 1Add videos to demonstrate how to use Jing and VoiceThread 1 to 1 and Small GroupAdd course objectives to course overview SMEClarify purpose and procedures for posting to Moodle coursedigital product wikiSMEShare additional resources/ways to use Jing and VoiceThread tocreate mathcastsSmall GroupIndicate approximate lengths of time to complete each unit Small GroupAdd each external resource so that it opens in a new window andnot the same window to help ease navigation issuesSmall Group 62. 63In Table 3, shown on the previous page a compilation of the data from field notes andcomments shared on the Google form spreadsheets. Data from all three phases of the formativeevaluation of reviewers suggestions to improve the Moodle course were included. As you cansee in Table 3, there were several areas the reviewers indicated that needed clarification orfurther explanation. It was suggested that an explanatory getting started with Jing andVoiceThread video be created or located online and embedded into the Moodle course forteachers to use when working with both technology tools. This was a great suggestion since thecourse is designed for teachers relatively new to using and integrating technology.Methods of Triangulation of the Data CollectedThe researcher triangulated the data by comparing the data collected across all threephases. This gave the researcher a more cohesive and comprehensive look at the suggestionsmade to improve the course. The data was easily reviewed and grouped by categories andproceeding in this manner prevented suggestions from being overlooked. Items that thereviewers mentioned more than once were grouped together thus helping identify areas of largeconcern.Additionally, demographic data of all three phases were compared after the researchernoticed the amount of information shared from the individual reviewers seemed to be correlatedthe number of years in education. Demographic data was submitted on each form from thereviewers and this information was compared and analyzed across all three phases of theformative evaluation. The number of years a reviewer had been in education was correlated tothe amount of suggestions each reviewer submitted on the Google forms. 63. 64Recommended Revisions from the ReviewersAt the conclusion of each unit of the Moodle course, the researcher would like the futureparticipating teachers to share the digital products they and/or their students created and post theUniform Resource Locators (URLs) or embed the videos into the course digital product wiki,blog posts and forums. Several reviewers suggested the directions to use Jing and VoiceThreadbe revised to provide clarification and assistance for the participating teachers that areinexperienced or new to integrating technology. Since the researcher is familiar with using bothJing and VoiceThread, it was hard for the researcher to gauge the complexity of the proceduresand directions laid out in the course units. This issue was mentioned by several reviewers so itwill definitely be a large focus throughout the revision process. Modifications to the course weremade but were apparently not explicit enough to assist teachers just beginning to integratetechnology.Several reviewers mentioned clarifying the purpose and nature of the Elluminateconferences to include demonstrations of how to create a VoiceThread and use Jing in additionto the resources listed in the Moodle course. The researcher found this to be an excellentsuggestion and will add details about the purpose of using Elluminate throughout the Moodlecourse.Some of the reviewers suggested changing the order of the course units. The researcherwill review the directions for each unit and explore the possibility of changing the order of thecourse units to provide continuity and clarify for the participants of the course. The researcherwill further examine this suggestion before determining if this is a necessary change. 64. 65CHAPTER FIVE: DISCUSSIONDiscussion of Capstone ProjectProject DescriptionA Moodle course was created for to assist teachers to teach students to be better problemsolvers using technology. Teachers will learn to use VoiceThread and Jing to create a mathtutorial video called a screencast. Teachers will learn how to use both tools and then model thesame process for their students. All video products created throughout th