Documentation:Learning Design/Melissa's Page

Please choose two activities that you use or have used in your designs and answer the following questions: · How would you characterize this design and why do you think it is successful? · What is the role of the facilitator/instructor, what is the learners' role? · Under what conditions does this activity work and under what conditions does it not (i.e facilitation, learning environment) · What are the barriers you see to the success of this design (i.e.constraints/costs/org/time factors)? · How can we share these practices as a department and then with others?

HLTH 363 Team Task 1

1. I would characterize this as a collaborative team task, with individual reflection. I believe this task is successful as it requires a group to work together on a task, focusing the group's discussion and giving it purpose. The activity can be personalized for the learners as they need to identify their own learning needs and encompass those in the case story. Each group in the class is working on a different family member's case story, so they can also learn from each other in the plenary sharing at the end. By requiring the learners to reflect on their learning for assessment, there is incentive to participate in the group task and opportunity for them to add ideas or information they have had after the group finished working on the task. This task design also works well for managing facilitator workload as he or she does not have to monitor or assess the discussions. The onus is on the learners to provide evidence of their contribution. This particular task also draws on previous content in the course and will be built upon in later assignments as well.
2. The role of the facilitator is to organize the initial groups and then monitor and direct the discussion for the team task if group members have overlooked something or are going in the wrong direction. The learners must work together to accomplish a task. The presenters have to ensure the final product is in the discussion forum for others to see. This role rotates throughout the course.
3. This activity works well with a sufficient number of students in the cohort (ideally 20 but minimally 8) and with a facilitator who will allow the groups to create their own case stories without having a predefined notion in their minds of what the groups should create. This type of activity also works well with students who are refreshing knowledge but who have past experience in the area of health care, and specifically nursing.
4. The barriers to success are that this design requires some organization and monitoring by the facilitator. The design also needs a facilitator who values collaborative learning and constructivist principles. The design will not work well if the facilitator views education as arriving at the one correct answer.
5. We can share these practices as a department through online means (blogs, wikis) and through monthly departmental professional development sessions. We may also want to explore a regular meeting to highlight the status of our projects and share either a cool aspect of a course or learning design or brainstorm around a current challenge we are facing. We could also look for opportunities to present at conferences and workshops.

HLTH 361 Community Assessment Discussion

1. I would characterize this as an individual field trip/observation log, followed by plenary discussion to share information. I think this activity is successful because it is very personal for the learner; they can choose their own neighbourhood if they like or one where they may one day practice. This is also a good activity as it asks students to apply the theoretical knowledge they have gained about health and communities in a practical, authentic way. By asking learners to share their findings through the discussion forum, they gain even more knowledge as they read about all their fellow learner's communities as well as their own. Learners are also not limited to the written word but can use photos or other objects to reflect their community.
2. The facilitators role is to monitor the final discussion. They may bring their own expertise to comment on individual learner's community assessments as well.
3. This activity could work well with any student. This activity would be most effective with a cohort minimum of 8 so that they can learn from each other in the plenary discussion and get to see a variety of community assessments.
4. The barrier to success is that the learners have to be willing to spend the time to observe the community. The facilitator also has to be comfortable with allowing the learners to demonstrate their learning in many ways in addition to the written word.
5. Same as above.