Francisco grabs his second cup of coffee -- it is, after all, that crazy beginning time of classes with so much to do. He has seen tweets and posts in Dilo from other professors about their challenge implementations. He is a little nervous as he has not started his plan. He clicked into Dilo to read a few plans from other people in his group. “What? This is really awesome!” What looked daunting at first is now exciting. Francisco is so inspired, he WhatsApps his fellow Triad members. Claudia asks him a few questions that help him clarify some ideas and reassures him THERE IS TIME! He suggests Claudia to use PollEverywhere for her student feedback. Gaby shares that her initial experiments with memes were fun, but now she really has to better understand the learning value. Claudia and Francisco help her brainstorm how to focus the challenge. Francisco realizes in the span of 15 minutes with his Triad he has a strong idea for his first challenge implementation. He’s going to have his students work on a Wikipedia editing project.
Do any of you feel like Francisco?
Are you worried about creating your plans? Don’t. You have time! This is not homework and there are no grades or right or wrong answers for your plans. They are not written for your instructors. They are tools to help you thoughtfully implement your challenges. This week you can share your plans in your triads and dilo groups, and give each other feedback.
As a reminder, what you need to do for your diploma is to meaningfully implement 2-4 challenges in your class, collect evidence of meaningful student feedback to support it, and write up the results in a public place. These write ups will eventually be a resource for other teachers. The implementation plan is just a vehicle to help you get there.
The key questions you should be asking each other in your Triads and/or in Dilo are "why are you doing this challenge and how will it improve student engagement or learning outcomes?" and "How will you know what happened -- how will you get student feedback to help you know?" It is NOT enough to simply ask students to tweet or to make memes. There has to be a sound reason that supports your teaching goals for the class. Claro?
The Google Hangout this week will be Friday at noon Guadalajara time. We will send a link later in the week. This week we will be running some Peer Assists where a few of you can share your plans and get feedback from others. To do this we need YOU, not your tutors!
We are looking for 3-4 of you to be with us in the hangout. You will take 2-3 minutes each to share how your project is progressing and any questions you have. Then the others can comment, ask you questions and give feedback. If you are available and willing to be in the hangout with us, just reply to this email (it goes just to Alan and Tannis), or contact Alan on twitter via @cogdog
Your plans are a means, not an end.
