Week 3 OER Reflections of MOOC'simage: https://www.khanacademy.org For this week’s assignment on evaluating a MOOC, I chose the Khan academy. To begin the process, I started with reviewing the OER rubrics and 12 dimensions to guide my assessment strategy. I chose Khan academy after realizing, to accurately assess a course it would be helpful to have a certain amount of understanding of the subject to evaluate if it was meeting the intended learning goals. I could only do this for K-7 math, but I thought that was a good start. Upon opening the site, my first impression was that it is simple to use. I signed up as a teacher and added my children as students. I also added my name as a coach to see if that would give me access to any other areas. Math is a perfect subject for me to critique as I find it challenging to teach Grade 7 concepts clearly and concisely. Along with math, Khan also offers upper level courses in Sciences, Humanities and Arts, Economics, Computing and American test prep. I’m really interested in trying the Computing Hour of Code courses available.
I began by watching a number of videos from every grade grouping including adult courses, and then chose to focus on grades 1, 4 and 7 as that is the content I am currently most familiar working with this year. To evaluate, I have provided comments under each rubric title. To scale, I used the given grading system: 3: Superior 2: Strong 1: Limited 0: Very Weak Rubric I. Alignment to Standards – Grade (2) Although it covers many important outcomes, being a US product, the curriculum for each grade is not aligned with all of the content and curricular competencies for the new BC curriculum. In reviewing the elementary grades, there are no lessons on probability or financial literacy. There is a section on probability, but I found it to be poor quality and does not include lower levels. Rubric II. Quality of Explanation of the Subject Matter Grade (1-2) I have given a split rating on this, finding some videos fantastic and others lacking in explanations or confusing. Video tutorials would begin with assumptions of prior knowledge and then miss steps in what I call “thinking out-loud” to model how a process is done. Khan’s videos ask students to use their intuition while looking at examples to help develop the procedural understanding for the “why.” This approach would be too abstract for some learners. I really liked the comment area under each video to ask and answer questions. I could see how a teacher could use the short tutorials to support students needing catch-up, review, for further understanding and IEP’s. Rubric III. Utility of Materials Designed to Support Teaching (Grade 3) I have given this area a high grade with the assumption that the videos and practice sections will “support” the teacher and not completely take the place of all teaching. The materials and tutorials used to instruct the early years were more interesting and diverse adding visual manipulatives. The upper years were created on blackboards and addressed, for the most part, one way to conceptualize the question. As a teacher and student, I appreciate seeing many ways to explain and think about how to one solve problem. I thought the pretest option before starting some of the upper level courses useful to ensure teaching concepts begin where the student is at. I also liked the useful tips for parents on how to use Khan, motivate children, ideas on creating and encouraging a growth mindset and tips for homeschoolers. Rubric IV. Quality of Assessment (Grade 2) Assessment for these tutorials is calculated from the practicing questions and challenges, which are like quizzes. Teachers, coaches and parents can see an illustrated spreadsheet itemizing specific practice skills and challenges totaling the number of correct and incorrect answers. When the student gets 5 correct answers they are considered a master and can level up. My criticism is that by looking at the spreadsheet it’s unclear which steps in problem solving the student is having trouble with. It would be easier on multiple choice questions for other subject areas. Rubric V. Quality of Technological Interactivity (Grade 1-2) Interactivity on Khan is different for the various courses and for the most part, consists of practice questions and challenges. This is great for visual, logical and aural learning styles. It does not meet the needs of kinesthetic learners needing a hands-on approach with manipulatives. It also does not provide any collaborative opportunities. I think the upper level courses would work well in an asynchronous course style. Rubric VI. Quality of Instructional and Practice Exercises (Grade 2) As a motivation, students can go on missions, earn badges and energy points which allow them to choose from new avatars. I like the idea of students creating their own goals, but also being given suggestions for areas to focus on. Khan allows for students to work at their own pace and level. It works well for individual learning requiring practice and review only on the areas needing more time and attention. Rubric VII. Opportunities for Deeper Learning (Grade 0-1) I struggle with this concept of deeper learning with Khan. I believe math should be something explored and discussed in many ways. Khan academy is great at showing one way to think about and arrive at an answer. I could not see any opportunities for students to reflect, discuss or show their thinking in optional ways. Rubric VIII. Assurance of Accessibility (Grade 3) Khan is free and available to anyone with a device, internet connection and desire to learn. To sum up my final assessment of Khan Academy, there are some things I really like and some things I think could be improved upon. After completing my evaluation, I had a look at other reviews. Many praised Khan for helping bring up grades or teach a particular concept. I did however find a few to I support my own views mentioned in the above evaluation. Khan Academy Reviews: Open letter to Khan Academy about Basic Probability Don't Use Khan Academy without Watching this First The Wrath Against Khan: Why Some Educators Are Questioning Khan Academy Best Khan Academy online courses and MOOC's | Course Talk Khan Academy Reviews Comments are closed.
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AuthorK-7 Coordinator in SD68. Archives
January 2017
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