Shakespeare: Words and Actions - a Calgary Regional Consortium Workshop

On October 19 I attended a session put on by the Calgary Regional Consortium entitled “Shakespeare: Words and Actions”. Michael LoMonico, Senior Consultant on National Education for the Folger Shakespeare Library, facilitated the session. LoMonico’s primary objective was to show how learning through performance can be one of the most effective ways for students to understand the language of Shakespeare. Many adult students (myself included!) may be hesitant to perform in front of the class, but performance does not have to be an elaborate, stressful production. LoMonico shared several simple performance activities with the participants, and even as teachers we could see how our understanding of Shakespeare’s language was deepened from these simple activities:

• Before you begin a Shakespeare text, introduce students to the language by choosing a passage that is full of imagery, not necessarily from the play you will be studying. LoMonico chose the captain’s monologue in Act I Scene ii of Macbeth, and had us read the passage as a class while standing, and acting out the imagery. Reading and acting together took away some of the “fear” and acting out the imagery helped to put meaning to the words.
• Using Friar Laurence’s monologue at the end of Act V in Romeo and Juliet, randomly assign students the names of all the characters that are referenced in this speech. Reading as a class, every time there is a pronoun in the speech, students need to point to the student who have been assigned the character the pronoun is referring to. This really forces students to pay attention to who is being referenced (and you sneak a grammar lesson in, as well).
• Using a scene (we used the Act I Scene ii from Midsummer Night’s Dream) split students into two groups: directors, and actors. The actors are essentially ‘puppets’ in this activity, as the directors will be telling them exactly what they should be doing and how they should be saying their lines. This really forces students to visualize the meaning of the text, while creating their own interpretations. This was by far one of the most surprisingly effective performance activities that we participated in during the session.

We also took part in several language based activities; for example:

• Once students have become more familiar with the language of the text you are studying, give them a scene (we used Act IV Scene ii from Macbeth) and have them work in groups to cut down the lines in the scene by half. This activity allows students to think about what is really important to understanding the scene. We found that the first to go was imagery and characterization, but what we were left with was a very precise interpretation of the plot development in that scene.
• To help students recognize and understand tone and visualize the text, provide them with a scene (we used Act III Scene iv from Romeo and Juliet) and working in groups, have the students distinguish the tone with which each line is said. At the same time, students should be writing their own stage directions for what they imagine the characters are doing.

The Folger Shakespeare Library website has these activities, and many more valuable resources and lesson plan ideas for teachers to access, including resources on how to approach Shakespeare when working with students with an ESL background. LoMonico and the Folger Shakespeare Library were also involved in creating Shakespeare resources for educators for PBS. The interactive approach to Shakespeare presented in this workshop is just one way to counteract the apprehension that many adult students have about studying Shakespeare.

Utilizing Web 2.0 Tools in the Classroom

I recently attended a Calgary Regional Consortium workshop entitled “Summer Technology Boot Camp: The Great Web 2.0 Tools Face Off.” The focus was to look at how web 2.0 tools are being used in education. The participants were broken into groups, and each group researched a different resource. Here are some of the highlights:

QR Codes

With so many students owning smartphones, QR codes are becoming more prevalent in education. QR codes can be created using a QR Code Generator, and can be scanned using any smartphone QR Scanner app. QR scanners can also be downloaded to a desktop computer, so that those who do not have a smartphone can still utilize this tool. Participants at the session shared how they are using QR codes in their classrooms. Many of these suggestions can be adapted for an adult student base:

• QR codes were used to create a scavenger hunt orientation for new students/the beginning of a new school year.
• QR codes were linked to student work to display student work in a limited space.
• One teacher has students record book reviews, which are linked to a QR code and then attached to the book. That way, when the next student takes out the book out of the class library, they can listen to the book review.
• Students can record an oral presentation and link it to a QR code, for the instructor, or other students to access. This can be helpful in building confidence for students who are hesitant to speak in front of a group.
• Rather than print out an answer key, or write out the answers on the board for learning activities, answers can be linked to a QR code, which is then printed right on the assignment, for students to access. Not only can print answers be linked to a QR code, but instructors can record audio explaining the answers.
• QR codes can be placed around the room and  linked to extension activities or extra practice for students to access when they are finished their work.

Many more educational applications for QR codes can be found here.

Digital Timelines

Digital timeline tools allow students to create timelines, which could be a useful application in many subject areas. We looked at several digital timeline applications, such as Time Glider and When In Time. Digital timeline tools allow students to link images, video, audio, etc. to events on their timelines. One of the more interesting timeline tools was Precedan. Precedan allows students to layer different timelines together, so that they can compare and contrast. Digital timeline tools allows students to collaborate and edit each other’s timelines. A few of the uses participants shared for using digital timelines in the classroom were:

• Tracking plot in a story. Layering timelines allows for the actions of several characters to be compared.
• Tracking the stages of science experiments
• Timelines can also be used as a project management tool, to plot when stages of the project will be completed.

Best of the Rest

Tube Chop: Tube Chop allows you to edit You Tube videos so that you can only show what you need to the class.

Fotobabble: Fotobabble allows audio to be placed over photographs. This tool can be used to create photo essays, or to document science labs, for example.

Glogster: Glogster allows students to create digital posters. This eliminates the need (for students and instructors) for transporting and storing large poster papers.

All of the web 2.0 tools I have discussed here were very user friendly, so even the most hesitant student (or teacher!) can utilize these tools to enhance and support learning.

Open House 2012

I was able to attend the open house and I found it inspiring.  I was amazed by the number of people who braved the cold to find out more about the college.  I had worked at open houses in the past, but I had never seen this much traffic at the academic upgrading booth.  A good number of the people who came to see us had pre-formulated questions and knew what they needed for upgrading course, unlike in the past, where visitors did not have as high an awareness.  As well, a number of people were referred to our booth from the career program and learner services booths, and we referred others on to them in return.

Special thanks goes to Petya for setting up the booth and running the academic upgrading open house area.  Knowing the prospective students as she does, she brought down texts for them to see and recorded names to send them further information.  Knowing the college, she answered all of their questions in a professional and friendly manner.  Where needed, she directed them to booths or services in the college.  She had the department pages and the mybvc.ca website open for students in investigate.

Thanks to Karen and the four students from the Aboriginal program who came on a Saturday to represent the department.  Kudos to Karen for setting this up a student leadership opportunity.  The students were leaders, in every sense, answering questions based on their experience.  I had the chance to talk to them and they were very complimentary of their program, its coordinator and its instructors.  As well, we had a few good laughs.

I was moved.  I will take the opportunity to send info to students who requested further information about our courses and programs.  I learned so much about the people who choose to study here and why they do.  I was reminded of some of the really good people who work here and so for important reasons.  I was reminded of the great students who choose to come here to learn.  I certainly had fun.

Update on the Mathematics 30-1 and 30-2 Diploma Exams - Michael Gaschnitz

On Wednesday, October 15th, 2012, I attended the session “Provincial Assessment for Mathematics 30-1 and 30-1” presented by Ross Marian, the Team Leader for Math 30-1 and Pure Math 30, and Rob Shaughnessy, the Examiner for Math 30-2 and Applied Math 30.  

Here are some key updates from that session:

• The time permitted for the Math 30-1 and Math 30-2 diploma exams is a half hour longer than for Pure Math 30 or Applied Math 30.   “The allotted time … is two and a half hours; however, an additional half hour is allowed for students to complete the exam” (Mathematics 30-1 Information Bulletin).  Note that the allotted time for the science diploma exams is unchanged.  The Examiners argued that students need more time to answer mathematics questions.  Increasing the permitted time will reduce the speededness property of a test, and that will increase the validity of the results to some extent.  In other words,  we are more likely to measure if a student is able to complete a math problem rather than how fast the student can complete a math problem.  The ideal situation is to have unlimited time available so that speededness is completely eliminated --unless we do want to compare one student against another on the basis of their speed.  Ideally, we would give students an unlimited amount of time so that speededness was completely eliminated, but there are always practical considerations.  The testing industry generally considers a test unspeeded when “at least 80% of the test takers complete all items and all test takers complete at least 75% of the items” (van der Linden, 2011).

• The “Research Project” unit of Math 30-2 will not be tested on the diploma exam because teachers were unable to develop suitable items for this topic--but they tried hard.  We are advised to consult the Alberta Assessment Consortium (www.aac.ab.ca) for  a number of student exemplars, rubrics and tasks related to the research projects for Math 20-2 and Math 30-2.  Nina Goodman had considered joining this consortium almost a decade ago, but decided not to because of the cost, however, perhaps we should reconsider.

• 15-25% of the items on the Math 30-1 exam will be at the Standard of Excellence.

• approximately 20% of the items on the Math 30-2 exam will be at the Standard of Excellence.

• The Math 30-1 and 30-2 diploma exam blueprints use three “Mathematical Understanding” (cognitive level) categories:  Procedural, Conceptual, and Problem Solving.  The higher levels will be emphasized more than they were in Pure Math 30 and Applied Math 30:
• Procedural = 30%
• Conceptual = 34%
• Problem Solving = 36%

• Complete practice exams for Math 30-1 and 30-2 are now posted at Quest A+ (https://questaplus.alberta.ca/).

• Math 30-2 is intended as the course most students will take in high school.  They called it the “catch-all course.”  Math 30-1 is intended only for students who are interested in engineering or science at the university level.  Currently, the college has just 5 Math 30-2 registrations and 28 Math 30-1 registrations.  85% of our students are destined for careers in engineering or science?

• Many instructors asked about specific aspects of the textbooks.  If there is a conflict between a term or method employed by the textbook and the Program of Studies, the resolution will be noted in the Information Bulletin or Achievement Standards document.  I will post more information about the relationship between the approved resources for Math 30-1 and 30-2, the Program of Studies, and the diploma exams in a later post.

Regards,
Michael Gaschnitz
References
van der Linden, W. J.  (2011).  Test Design and Speededness.  Journal of Educational Measurement, 48, 44-60.

Professional Development

A big thank you to everyone who organized and participated in the planning day on the 17th!

I was truly impressed with the work that has gone into the work that we do.  I spent most of my time with the test building group and was struck by how much enthusiasm Lee, Murray and Tracy have for the topic... it rubbed off on those in the room who were laughing and energized by test writing (let me say that again... "about test writing"!)

Carey's media group looked like they were having fun looking for examples of the PowerPoint presentations on the web that were either really good or really bad.

I have sung your praises to our senior administrators and to potential funders... I may have a line on a call for funding proposals to support your work in curriculum development, standardized test development and delivery. I will continue to be in touch on this.

Keith

What's in a Name? - Dr. Keith Seel

I wanted to provide an update on our department’s name – Centre for Excellence in Foundational Learning – that became effective September 1 of this year.

I have formally requested that we be allowed to shorten the name to “Foundational Learning” for external communications including those going to our students.  I have several reasons for making the request but the most significant is that the new Centre for Excellence in Foundational Learning does not communicate what we do to our diverse current and potential student audience.  I expressed a strong concern that we may lose students who simply cannot find us once the name becomes present throughout the BVC website.

Our Acting VP, Learning, Joan McArthur-Blair is reviewing what options may exist.  What is clear at this time is that the formal new name – Centre of Excellence in Foundational Learning – is the formal name for our department.  What Joan and I talked about was a transition plan to the new name over time so that our students and our community understand what it is that we do and who we are.

Given that our formal name is not going to change, I will put forward the idea of renaming our areas of activity so that those are clear to students.  I welcome your thoughts.

 

College Wide Meeting Day October 17, 2012

The department will be taking full advantage of College Wide Meeting Day to make sure that faculty and staff have the chance to meet and learn . . . and eat lunch.

After snacks and announcements, the department will be offering three workshops, two for faculty and one for staff. Faculty can choose from an exam development workshop, Educational Technology for Exam Builders, or a media development workshop, Educational Technology for Media Curators. Both of these workshops form part and signify the launch of media and exam development certificates. See agenda below.

To register for a workshop, fill out this form online.

Pass on any suggestions regarding this professional development day by commenting on this post.  Be sure to pass on recommendations for future workshops by commenting here.


October 17th Meeting Day

Agenda

8:00 – 8:20   N 525   Breakfast (muffins, fruit, danishes etc.)

8:25 – 8:50    N 525  Department Staff meeting

• On the Same Page 
• Upcoming PD 
• Mybvc.ca  ShowCase October 31, 2012

9:00 – 12:00 Workshops 

9:00 – 12:00   N437   Exam Builder Workshop 1: Educational Technology

                                      Exam Development Certificate:  Exam Builder

                                      Presenters:  Murray Ronaghan and Lee Murray

9:00 – 12:00   N436   Media Curator Workshop 1 – Educational Technology 

                                      Media Development Certificate:  Media Curator

                                      Presenter: Carey Hilgartner

9:00 – 12:00   N543   Admin. Assistants Information Sharing

                                      Topics:  Mybvc, Google Apps, Programs and courses

                                      Presenters:  Mark Challoner and Petya Mirthcovska

12:00 – 2:15                College events

2:30 – 3:30                   Program meetings

Calgary Regional Math Consortiums

Below is a list of upcoming workshops related to the new Alberta Education mathematics 10 -12 courses offered by the Calgary Regional Consortium.  Be sure to sign up. Fill out a staff development activity request and submit it to your coordinator.  If you attend please remember to submit a post to acfoundonthesamepage.blogspot.com so others can share in what you find.


Calgary Regional Consortium
Mathematics 10-12 Workshops

Games & Puzzles in Mathematics 30-2 (REPEAT)
Rosalind Carson
Oct 16, 2012
Gr. 10-12
Mathematics


Provincial Assessment for Mathematics 30-1 and 30-2 (Afternoon Session)
Ross Marian & Rob Shaughnessy
Oct 17, 2012
12
–Mathematics
–Assessment


Provincial Assessment for Mathematics 30-1 and 30-2 (Evening Session)
Ross Marian & Rob Shaughnessy
Oct 17, 2012
12
–Mathematics
–Assessment


Performance Tasks for the High School Math Class
Lori Weinberger
Oct 25, 2012
Nov 14, 2012
Jan 14, 2013
10-12
Mathematics


* last day to register for Performance Tasks for the High School Math Class beginning Oct. 25/12 is this Friday (Oct 12)

Using and Assessing Student Responses to Open Questions in Grades 7-10 Math
Marian Small
Nov 1, 2012
7-10
Mathematics


Quadratics, Grades 10-12
James Tanton
Nov 1, 2012
10-12
Mathematics

From Patterns to Algebra: The Big Ideas in Linear Relationships, Gr 7-10
Dr. Ruth Beatty & Dr. Cathy Bruce
Nov 13, 2012 

7-10
Mathematics



If you require any further information please email register@crcpd.ab.ca

Exam and Media Development Certificates

Certificates for media and exam development have been created and made available for faculty. These certificates will recognize the hard work people do here in creating media and exams and testify the expertise acquired through project work and professional development.


There will be several certificates based on development roles for both exams and media, with basic certificates leading to more advanced. See the certificate maps for media and exam development below.

Media Development


Exam Development
Certificate Map

 Each certificate will require the completion of workshops and activities as well as project work. Many of the core workshops will be made available on department and college professional development days. Others will be offered throughout the year in person and virtually. There will also be asynchronous options. Activities following workshops will be made available at events and at this site. Final projects will occur as part of work on projects. See the chart below for certificate expectations.


This College Wide Meeting Day, on October 17, 2012, the curriculum team will offer two workshops to start the certification process.

At the JAM 10 3 2012

The Joint Applicant  Management committee (JAM) is an advisory committee that makes recommendations about projects proposed by departments and services in the college and informs representatives about educational technology initiatives.  I will do my best to post updates so that you can stay informed and get involved.  I will post the results on any votes on technology projects.

At the JAM 10 3 2012
At the last meeting, the JAM committee put forth a final draft of its terms of reference.  I will attach a copy in the my next post. The JAM will recommend that the Technology Steering Committee (TSC) headed up by executives and management either approve or reject a given project.  Equally, the committee will recommend a  priority level for the project.  The TSC can decide to go ahead with or reject any project regardless of the advice and reserves the right to assign priorities.

Current projects are listed on the college's Sharepoint site.  A report on the project outlines the current status, ownership, and quality of the project. I will provide a link when available. Be sure to share your comments about these projects and I will bring them forward at future JAM meetings.

I will post the votes on any projects on this blog. Be sure to read and share your comments with Russ Willde, the co-chair of the JAM committee, as your comments will be included in JAM's recommendations to the TSC, as long they are submitted within one week of the JAM review of the project.

Some current projects include the creation of student network accounts.  Each student would have an account on the network providing an Exchange email account and file storage.  I believe that this project should not go forward as the tech support, infrastructure costs, and training requirements will be large and unnecessary.  The college currently has a mybvc portal and a FREE Google Apps for Edu subscription.  This package offers students over several GB of mail and file space.  They have access to gmail and Google Drive already.  Students in the Anytime Online program use these apps extensively as required, as do students across the college.  Be sure to leave your comments on this blog.

Another current project that should be further reviewed is the move of externally hosted solutions to internal hosting over concerns with data being hosted outside the immediate control of the college.  Websites and domains would be moved.  This project has not touched the department to date but may soon.  This may impact the JupiterGrades application or the use of mybvc.ca by instructors and students.  I will provide more information as this project becomes clearer.  Comment here.

As well, the college will be upgrading Agresso.  Previews and training will be provided.  Stay tuned.  

Criteria for the approval of projects was not discussed at the last meeting, but I did discuss the need for such with the Russ Wilde after the meeting.  I will be submitting criteria by email hopefully to be discussed by the next meeting.  Initial criteria should include:  the cost, the amount of human resources required, the impact on college services, departments and students, the training required, the technical support needed, integration with other or existing applications, match with current workflows, automation, extensibility through API, database architecture and exchange, and required use decisions. Please share any criteria you think should be considered.

To submit a project, a department or service representative, acting with permission, must email a request to the ITS Help Desk who will inform the ITS Project Management Office.  From there, the rep will be required to fill out a project proposal form.  I will attach a copy in my next post for your perusal.  The rep will then likely be asked to present your proposal at a determined JAM meeting. 

Another route would be to submit requests to your coordinator or the Dean so that it can be included in the department's annual business case submission to the ITS department.

In addition to projects, requests for new software or hardware purchases have been titled Change Requests to Standards.  These requests would involve a pilot and review by a panel of experts after the pilot to determine continuance.  I currently submitted a request for OMR software to mark exams using the photocopier scanning features.  Should you have any requests in mind, feel free to ask me any questions.  You can also make requests through the ITS Help Desk which will then turn the request over to the ITS PMO to respond.

Keep Jammin'