OLT 578 Journal Entry 5

This course design is based on constructivism learning theory, “learning is how people make sense of their experience—learning is the construction of meaning from experience” (Merriam, 2013-10-14, p. 36) and humanistic learning theory—learning is student-centered and “the teacher is a facilitator of self-directed learning rather than a dispenser of knowledge” (Merriam, 2013-10-14, p.30). The Your Digital Foundation Unit contains a video lecture that takes the learners through each chapter, explaining the presented concepts. The learner can watch the video, read the chapter, or both. This is to ensure a variety of learning styles are represented.

The Microsoft Word, Excel, and PowerPoint units contain video lectures that walk the students through the Develop Your Skills assignments in the chapter. This demonstrates how to complete the concepts and skills presented in each chapter. This also provides the student a practice assignment that should result in a high score. The second assignment in each chapter will allow the students to apply the skills they just learned. At the end of each unit, the test enables learners to use all the skills they learned in that chapter in a comprehensive project. The final project for the course allows the learners to combine the skills learned from each unit in one comprehensive project.

Motivation

Attention & Relevance

• Make entertaining PowToon videos to introduce units – will also explain why this skill is important and how it can be used in future

Confidence & Satisfaction

• Each chapter has an assignment that is an easy grade. If the student follows the lecture video that walks through the Develop Your Skills assignment, they will practice and learn the skill while having the answer in the video.
• The next assignment in the chapters will be a chance for the learner to use the skills they just learned.
• The test for each unit is a project where the students have to follow the instructions and edit the starting document using the skills they learned.

Prerequisites and subskills

Practice and Feedback

Unit 1 – Your Digital Foundation

• This unit consists of seven chapters. The formative assessment for each chapter is a quiz that will test the knowledge they have learned. Each learner will have 2 attempts to make the highest grade possible. A passing grade on each quiz will be the indicator that they have learned the content. Each question on the quiz provides feedback upon completion of the quiz. If the answer is correct, the feedback will reinforce the information the question covered. If the answer is incorrect, the learner is provided with the page in the chapter they can refer to find the answer.
• The last assignment for this chapter is a discussion board post. This prompt is a research activity. The learners will watch three short videos about cyber security and reflect on the videos and ways to avoid the issues of viruses, cyber-attacks, and computer-use related health issues in the future. Each learner will have an initial post and respond to three classmates.
• There is no summative assessment for this unit.

Unit 2 – Microsoft Word

• This unit consists of four Microsoft Word chapters. The formative assessments for each chapter include the Develop Your Skills and Reinforce Your Skills assignments. Each assignment can be submitted two times and have grading rubrics. The rubric allows learners to understand the grade they receive. Feedback will be provided for all grades. Passing grades will have positive, encouraging feedback. Grades that could be improved would provide feedback for ways to improve and encouragement to resubmit the assignment utilizing the feedback provided.
• At the end of the unit, the learner must complete a summative assessment that gives the learner a chance to apply all the skills they learned throughout each chapter. Passing grades will have positive, encouraging feedback. All feedback will include chapter references for the concepts they struggled to perform.
• The last assignment for this chapter is a discussion board post. The prompt is to write a personal reflection on the various ways the learner can use Word every day and in their future. Each learner will have an initial post and respond to three classmates.

Unit 3 – Microsoft Excel

• This unit consists of five Microsoft Excel chapters. The formative assessments for each chapter include the Develop Your Skills and Reinforce Your Skills assignments. Each assignment can be submitted two times and have grading rubrics. The rubric allows learners to understand the grade they receive. Feedback will be provided for all grades. Passing grades will have positive, encouraging feedback. Grades that could be improved would provide feedback for ways to improve and encouragement to resubmit the assignment utilizing the feedback provided
• At the end of the unit, the learner must complete a summative assessment that gives the learner a chance to apply all the skills they learned throughout each chapter. Passing grades will have positive, encouraging feedback. All feedback will include chapter references for the concepts they struggled to perform.
• The last assignment for this chapter is a discussion board post. The prompt is to write a personal reflection on the various ways the learner can use Excel every day and in their future. Each learner will have an initial post and respond to three classmates.

Unit 4 – Microsoft PowerPoint

• This unit consists of four Microsoft PowerPoint chapters. The formative assessments for each chapter include the Develop Your Skills and Reinforce Your Skills assignments. Each assignment can be submitted two times and have grading rubrics. The rubric allows learners to understand the grade they receive. Feedback will be provided for all grades. Passing grades will have positive, encouraging feedback. Grades that could be improved would provide feedback for ways to improve and encouragement to resubmit the assignment utilizing the feedback provided
• At the end of the unit, the learner must complete a summative assessment that gives the learner a chance to apply all the skills they learned throughout each chapter. Passing grades will have positive, encouraging feedback. All feedback will include chapter references for the concepts they struggled to perform.
• The last assignment for this chapter is a discussion board post. The prompt is to write a personal reflection on the various ways the learner can use PowerPoint every day and in their future. Each learner will have an initial post and respond to three classmates.

Final Integrated Project

• The final summative assessment for this course is an integrated project. The learners will follow a set of instructions to produce a series of documents using all the skills they learned for each Microsoft unit.