Select Page

Karen Johnson

Assistant Professor, College of Education, Curriculum and Instruction, Early Childhood Education

The journey from teaching in a traditional model to a blended/hybrid model was exciting and periodically intense. There was a lot of ‘up-front’ work. Getting all the material online for the Fall 2018 semester was a challenge. However, the field of education needs to utilize innovative technologies to prepare our own students who will in turn prepare the students of tomorrow. The blended format allowed me to present information to the college students in-class and online. The students were able to engage with the various course materials, activities and concepts in a variety of formats. Also the students were able to create and curate their learning process over the course of the semester in dynamic ways.

 

Technology has become a major aspect of our society. The students in our education classes choose to interact with each other and to gain information about their world through various media platforms. The young children our students will teach are digital natives. I decided to take advantage of the college student’s interest in technology and explore positive uses of technology in the teaching and learning process. 

In ECE 479, Play as Educative Processes, the students take several field trips, engage in many in-class playful activities, and must digest weekly readings. Also, the students need to become familiar with effective technology platforms for the teaching and learning of young children. The blended/hybrid course model achieved four goals: 1) It enabled me to present course information to the students in-class and online. The in-class format allowed for small and large groups interactions and activities. The online teaching allowed the students to interact with the course material at their own pace and gave the students that are more hesitant to speak out in class a platform to express their opinions in a non-threatening way. 2) The students were able to present their topic presentations in a creative, interactive manner online with VoiceThread. 3) The students were able to create a learning journal based on the course readings each week. The weekly entries incorporated pictures and videos of their course activities, field trips and web-searches. 4) The students explored and utilized various media to either (a) present information to young children or (b) enable children to create and curate their own learning.

 

 

Evidence of Success

Learning objectives, assignment and assessment descriptions, scoring guides or rubrics, student artifacts, and performance data

Learning Objectives

ECE 479 – Child’s Play as Educative Processes

Blended Learning Course

Upon completion of this course, each student with a passing grade will be able to:

  1. Examine and defend or critique current knowledge about theory, research and practice in the area of children’s play in ECE settings (defined primarily as pre K to fourth grade, but includes infants/toddlers/preschoolers).
  2. Examine, apply, and develop play observation, assessment, and documentation strategies when examining and planning children’s playful learning experiences. Attention will be given to play in relation to academic domains, as well as, recess in school life.
  3. Design suitable situational arrangements for children’s play in indoor and outdoor play settings. To gain practical insight about how play can be effectively managed, organized and integrated into the curriculum.
  4. Compare various play facilitation strategies and techniques and to be able to create and defend their use in formal and informal play situations. To appreciate and use spontaneous play, teacher guided play, and teacher directed play wisely.
  5. Recognize and apply playful pedagogy for inclusion in culturally diverse settings. To understand, analyze and plan relational pedagogy, i.e. educational opportunities for co-constructed play.
  6. Design and/or document playful learning opportunities (mainly project-based learning) for young children using effective and efficient technology tools.

Course Description

“I have to take a course on play! You have got to be kidding!” Was that your first thought when you saw that ECE 479 was a requirement for teaching children between pre-k and 4thgrade? Well, you are not alone. Many students have wondered the same thing. So why a course on play? Play can provide the ‘mental velcro’ for learning various concepts. When children experience a playful learning environment, they are more likely to retain and generalize their knowledge acquisition in other areas of their lives. This course is designed to explore and experiment with play and playful learning in formal and informal educational settings. We will visit five campus locations over the course of the semester, and you will be expected to take pictures/videos to document your learning (use in your learning journal). We will experience various activities to stretch our creative nature. We will design playful learning activities and use multimedia to document and share observations of learning through play.

Assessment Description

  1. In-class activities and field trips – very active, embodies learning
  2. Learning Journal – weekly entries discussing the readings and incorporating various media to accent the content of the entries. Adobe Spark was the platform.
  3. Topic Presentations – each small group chose a topic on playful learning and developed an interactive presentation using VoiceThread.
  4. Play-based Project Plans (PPP) – the students designed a project that utilized appropriate technology tools to present information and/or allow young children to demonstrate their own leaning.
  5. Peer Reviews – The students critiqued their peers work on their PPP.
  6. Week 13 Observations – The students observed and analyzed playful experiences in a classroom of a campus child care program. The analysis included support from the readings and pictures/videos from observation. 
  7. Essay – The culminating assignment for the course. It provides a rationale for playful learning with the PPP as supporting documentation.

 

Overview of Course Assignments 

This course consists of…   

Blended Approach

All Tuesdays met in person in Krause Learn Lab or at designated campus locations.  Thursdays were online only with no required meetings.

This course uses Canvas set up in Modules. Each Module covers one week of activities, readings and assignments. In this blended course, each Module runs one full week from Sunday morning to the following Sunday with many activities being due by 11:59 pm. Classes are face-to-face every Tuesday. During class meetings, we intend to complete activities, participate in playful learning experiences, discuss difficulties, and/or discuss/prepare for future assignments.

Artifacts

This is an example of a learning journal. The students were to discuss the readings for each week guided by a prompt provided on Canvas. The students were to include references and various media to support the concepts in their entries. The students used Adobe Spark as platform.

Future Applications

I thought this was extremely effective, and I felt it gave me time to read the in depth readings. I really enjoyed being able to focus on readings, videos, voice threads, and other materials. It made class more important, as it was  only once a week for a certain time frame and made me feel more responsibility to show up.

Fall 2018 Student Feedback

I think the blended format was very effective. one reason is that I liked the opportunity to be able to come into class and have face to face learning benefits, but I also liked to have the chance to learn online as well. another reason I thought It was very effective was It taught me how to use voice-thread and online discussions that I never knew existed that hopefully I can use in my classroom in the future. 

Spring 2019 Student Feedback