Month: October 2022

In what way are they likely to respond to the video on their own, e.g. make notes, do an activity, think about the topic (learner-generated)?

My group interactive learning resource is about the history of Chinese dynasties. The video I chose for students is about the history of one of the Chinese dynasties, Qin dynasty. This video is telling about a detailed history from rise to fall of Qin dynasty. This history includes many people and events, such as Qin Shi Huang, Fusu, Han Feizi, Qin’s attack on Zhao, etc. Therefore, taking notes would be a very useful way to study to record key points such as the role of characters, the relationship between characters, what role events played in history, etc. Otherwise you will not be able to remember these intricacies of history.

What activity could you suggest that they do, after they have watched the video (designed)? What type of knowledge or skill would that activity help develop? What medium or technology would students use to do the activity?

I’ll be running zoom breakout rooms to let students debate controversial topics. For example, Qin Shi Huang is a very controversial character. Some people think he made an outstanding contribution to the creation of a new Chinese history, but others think he ruled with extreme cruelty, so I want students to debate based on their own ideas. In this process, the students were able to exercise their debating skills, consolidate their knowledge of history, and get some new insights from other students.

How would students get feedback on the activity that you set? What medium or technology would they and/or you use for getting and giving feedback on their activity?

I would listen to each Zoom breakout group’s debate and grade each student with a feedback based on, in a fixed period of time,  the number of times they spoke, how convincingly they made their points, and how flexibly they applied what they had learned.

How will you address any potential barriers for your learners in the use of this video to ensure an inclusive design?

I make the assumption that someone of my students may be with lost hearing or colorblindness. The video I chose is from YouTube, which has a real-time captioning feature, so don’t have to worry about lost-hearing students not being able to keep up. This video is also produced by animation, very interesting, but does not require the ability to distinguish colors to learn knowledge, so color-blind students can also learn without obstacles.

References:

Cool History Bros. (2020). Qin Shi Huang – The Rise and Fall of the First Emperor of China (Complete Series). YouTube. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q-xbh_q0RoA.

Let us make an assumption of students must study at home under the situation of pandemic. In addition to this, I would like to make the additional assumption that my students include a few with color blindness or loss of hearing. My group interactive learning resource is about the history of Chinese dynasties. Under such a situation of pandemic, I will do online teaching. I will provide weekly asynchronous lecture videos and some videos from the Internet that can be used as teaching material to students. The reason for asynchronous video is that students may not be able to keep their attention on the online course due to the lack of learning atmosphere or other factors, so the recorded videos is easy for students to study again and again after class and make up for the knowledge gaps. Of course, any video-based instruction must include synchronous captioning to help the students with loss of hearing learn. When it comes to the need for some pictures to deliver teaching content, I will choose some pictures where color does not play an important role. In other words, students with color blindness can learn and understand through pictures just like normal students. In addition to the videos, I will also provide some relevant articles for students to read and learn. Of course, assessments are also essential. Students will also have to pass quizzes and give presentations to reflect their knowledge, but these will all be online. Quizzes may be administered on a multiple choice and short answer basis. Office Hour will also be set up as usual. In addition, I will also set up an online forum for students to discuss and ask me questions. In fact, some students may not communicate with instructors or classmates in person because of shyness and other reasons, so online forums may be a good place for them to communicate and ask or answer questions.

Direct instruction is a common teacher-centered approach. According to Guzmán & Payá (2020), with an emphasis on the interactions between instructors and students, its main goal is to encourage student on-task behavior via specific teaching, continual support, and student involvement in effective practice. Modeling, reinforcement, feedback, and repeated approximations are some of its essential elements. Direct instruction seems to have a certain connection with Behaviorism. They have very similar components and they both get reaction from students by stimulating. According to Louden (2014), I learnt about the direct instruction is based on Behaviorism, and “Direct Instruction breaks each learning task down into its smallest component and requires mastery of simpler skills before proceeding to more difficult skills”. Students must understand the current knowledge before learning new knowledge.

I believe direct instruction is an appropriate teaching approach for our topic Chinese history. We are mainly taking about the history of Chinese dynasties. For the learning design, it is necessary to pre-assess students how much they know about the dynasties and their histories in order to help instructor determine the starting point of instruction. Then we need to guide students in our study environment. To provide syllabus as behavioral objectives, like to memorize some important events and key characters of each dynasty. And to provide relative assessments, like quizzes or presentation, to test their extent of grasping the knowledge as intended reaction. Next, it is important to provide informative feedback on assessments. It is also important to provide rewards and penalties, like a bonus mark on their grade, and they need to stay after class or use their free time to catch up on their missing knowledge, to stimulate students to their intended reaction. Every student must pass their assessments for entering next chapter of teaching. I believe the direct teaching method will be applicable to our students to learn Chinese history better.

Guzmán, J. F., & Payá, E. (2020). Direct instruction vs. cooperative learning in physical education: Effects on student learning, behaviors, and subjective experience. Sustainability, 12(12). https://doi.org/10.3390/su12124893 

Louden, B. (2014, July 17). Direct instruction and the teaching of reading. The Conversation. Retrieved October 7, 2022, from https://theconversation.com/direct-instruction-and-the-teaching-of-reading-29157