A. Executive Summary
Purpose:
To review and summarize the objectives of the Arabic 100
Course from “good start” to discussion board analysis and evaluation by three
graduate student participants.
Background:
In ETEC 648, students were asked to design a session of
their choice to teach to students or a fictitious audience. Presentations could
range from a foreign language session to technology and robotics. Arabic 100
became the course of interest. This course aims to teach students basics of the
Arabic culture by primarily focusing on its rich principles and history. The
Arabic alphabet, numbers, and basic words incorporated into lessons were to
spark student interest and keep student motivation and engagement high. The
step by step proceedings in creating this one hour introductory session was to
encourage each student to give themselves an Arabic name of their choice, to discuss the objectives of the course, to review
discussion board and blogging criteria, and to show students how to
successfully navigate through Blackboard to find all relevant documents. The
biggest assignments were discussion board activities. However, for the purpose
of using “best practices”, three real participants were chosen to participate
in the discussion board activity.
Participants:
As outlined in my
course plan, the fictitious course is available for all college students.
However, getting actual graduate students (3) for the discussion board seemed more
efficient. Two participants are graduate students from California State
University, San Bernardino and one is a graduate student from UCLA. They were
asked to research a Middle Eastern country of their choice. One chose Egypt, another
chose Syria, and the last chose Qatar.
Requirements:
The requirements for
the discussion board activity were given to them on Friday, March 1, 2013. The
due date for the assignment was set for Sunday March 3, by midnight. They were
asked to review a Middle Eastern map and answer a few corresponding questions
(due March 1, 2013 by 8 PM). They were then asked to use the map to choose a
Middle Eastern country of their choice and discuss its culture, i.e. food,
attire, religion and then compare it to American culture. Finally, they were
asked to monitor their own posts and comment on at least three other students.
However, since there were only three participants, they only commented on two
posts.
B. Delivery
and evaluation of "Good Start"
A. State the objective(s) of the session.
·
To
familiarize college students with Middle Eastern Culture
(Lectures: geography, descriptive language, etc.)
·
To test
knowledge with basic self-paced quizzes to challenge dialect and
cognitive understanding
·
To
assess familiarity with concepts using mindful and
self-explanatory worksheets
·
To introduce
college students to basic vocabulary and apply them
to discussion board and blog activities
·
To have
college students reflect on their findings, ask relevant questions,
and apply this course to real-life (i.e, volunteering, taking
future Arabic course, etc.)
B. State the objectives of your online
instruction.
·
To help students navigate the Blackboard system to find all
applicable documents
·
To incorporate media, audio, and visuals into our Middle
Eastern culture lessons and discussions
·
To create a reliable, yet self-paced method (with certain
deadlines) of online instruction
·
To have students submerge themselves into Middle Eastern
culture, holding no bias to what they may already know, to create fresh
perspectives and insight
C. Describe your delivery and evaluation. For
example,
·
Who did you deliver it to? --College Students
·
When and where did it take place?-- Scheduled Skype dates,
office hours, self-paced
·
What documents did you have for the delivery?—Please see
below chart.
·
How did you deliver it?—Please see below chart.
·
How did you evaluate your "Good Start"? What
evaluation results did you find?--. http://sabbah-instructional-technology.com/technology/evaluationrubric.htm
Arabic
100-Introduction to Arabic Culture, Basic Vocab, and Reflecting on Cultural
Ideals
Welcome (Ahlan w
Sahlan in Arabic)—February 22, 2013, 6PM: 1 hr. Intro and Overview Session to
Arabic Culture
Office Hours: MW
through Skype 2-4 PM
Skype ID: sabbah.tamira
Email:sabbaht@coyote.csusb.edu
Website:http://sabbah-instructional-technology.com/technology/index.html
CLICK ON
WELCOME and ARABICARCHIVES
15 minutes—Please give
yourself an Arabic name for the course. For example my name is Tamara,
it comes from the Hebrew name for Palm Tree, or Tamar. I have
provided you a link :
15 minutes-Blackboard
Navigation and Help Desk( Blogging sites to use, Grades, etc.)
Course Objectives: (Objectives fit the weekly syllabus
activities: See below for more details)
·
To
familiarize college students with Middle Eastern Culture
(Lectures: geography, descriptive language, etc.)
·
To test knowledge with basic self-paced quizzes to challenge
dialect and cognitive understanding
·
To assess familiarity with concepts using mindful and
self-explanatory worksheets
·
To introduce college students to basic vocabulary
and apply them to discussion board and blog activities
·
To have college students reflect on their
findings, ask relevant questions, andapply this
course to real-life (i.e, volunteering, taking future Arabic course, etc.)
Prerequisites :Fulfills one unit in the
Foreign language section; Open to all college students
Technology Requirements: Computer, Java (Updated
Regularly), Adobe, head phones if needed
15 minutes—Intro to Weekly
Assignments
·
Lectures
·
Vocabulary Lists
·
Worksheets provided in Appendix
A (See website (above); scroll to bottom)
·
Self-Paced Quizzes
·
Photosets-Visual Guides to the Middle
East
Weekly Lectures and Podcasts: Exploring Arabic
culture : Each section is equivalent to one week:http://www.arabacademy.com/arabic-blog/category/arab-culture/
Wonderful Introduction Video to Arabic Acceptance:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=05_WuHUGt8A
Vocab Lists (Weekly Sight Words):
·
Week 1:Greetings: http://arabic.desert-sky.net/greetings.html
·
Week 5:Weather and Nature:
http://arabic.desert-sky.net/nature.html
Self-Paced Quizzes: Keep Doing them Until you Get it
Right!
·
Lesson
1: http://www.funnelbrain.com/sid-619-arabic-vocabulary.html
Photosets:
Languages of the Middle East: http://www.flickr.com/photos/mideaststrategy/sets/72157620512710272/
|
15 minutes:
Discussion Board—Weekly discussion
board responses to questions created by instructor; minimum response to three
fellow classmates (Due Sunday by Midnight)
Blogging—Blog on your
experiences and what you have learned in the lectures (Due Wednesdays by
Midnight). Please use as many Arabic words and phrases as possible from the
sight words. This will challenge your fellow classmates to figure out what
you are saying!
End of Term Evaluation: (See Website (Above); scroll to bottom; page one)
Help Desk Forum, please ask your
questions
|
C. Delivery
and evaluation of "Online Discussion"
A. State the objective(s) of the session.
·
For
students to show initiative in responding to deadlines
·
For
students to be knowledgeable of Middle Eastern geography and corresponding
questionnaire
·
For
students to gain perspective in a Middle Eastern country presented in the
geography map, by researching its culture and showing how it may differ to
American culture.
B. State the objectives of your online
instruction.
·
To be available for students via Skype on Friday, March 1,
2013 to assist with their geography assignment if needed
·
To have students be more familiar with social communication
tools like Skype and be able to set up an account
C. Describe your delivery and evaluation.
For example,
·
Who did you deliver it to? Three graduate students; two from
CSUSB and one from UCLA
·
When and where did it take place? Online via email and a Skype
session
·
What documents did you have for the delivery? I gave the three participants a Middle Eastern geography worksheet and a corresponding questionnaire. All resources needed i.e. photosets and self-paced quizzes were provided them via the above chart. The three participants received full credit! Please click on this link to see the geography worksheet and the corresponding questions and answers to the map-- http://sabbah-instructional-technology.com/technology/index.html --Please click on geography1.
·
How did you deliver it? They attended my first Arabic 100
Introductory Skype session.
·
How did you evaluate your "Online Discussion"? http://sabbah-instructional-technology.com/technology/discussionboard.htm
·
What evaluation results did you find? Overall, my students enjoyed my Arabic 100 Instroductory Session and discussion board activity! They enjoyed the technological components, i.e Skype and Youtube. In addition, they all agreed that my session was well explained and objectives were well developed and suited the atmosphere of the course. What they thought could have been better was that I could have used more varied activities and could have had more Skype sessions. Please see link for student evaluation.-- http://sabbah-instructional-technology.com/technology/discussionboard.htm
D. Lessons learned from the
delivery/evaluation experience
I learned that developing an online course is so much more than
aesthetics. In this case, we were asked to stay simple. I decided to focus on a one hour
session—that in itself was a difficult task. I wanted to make sure that I was
covering all the essential topics; but was one hour really enough? I finally
made it work by breaking up my components into 15 minute increments. I was
thrilled to see that I was able to incorporate fun Middle Eastern worksheets,
yet, still present the material in a professional and well-structured manner. I
greatly appreciated this delivery experience because it made me one step closer
to understanding the need of the end user. In addition, I had to learn to
decipher what I thought was worth teaching and what was not. I had to channel
my motivation into what I thought the end user would prefer. This is why I
incorporated numerous interactive worksheets, fun self-paced online quizzes,
and discussion questions that pertained to student’s everyday lives and helped
them to think outside the box. I wanted them to try and channel in the Middle
Eastern spirit and answer questions with no bias.
In addition, I learned that using the “good start” approach took
into consideration the “behind the scenes” online components that I have taken
for granted. For example, what are possible alternative assignments if the LMS
is down? What ADA compliance and non-negotiable agreements are there if a
special needs student(s) is attending my session, etc.? These crucial elements
must be discussed in the syllabus or an instructor is not complying with state
standards. I was pleased to be given the opportunity to read more about that.
Finally, I got the opportunity to play instructional designer and upload
assignments to my website that I thought fit the objectives and atmosphere of
the course. This assignment was a wonderful trial and error process and I was thrilled
that three students accepted my offer to be participants in my online
discussion!
