Conceptual Design

Teaching Pilot 2.0

Curriculum Area: Economics Course: Analyse economic growth using economic concepts and models Level: Level 2, NCEA Standard: Economics 2.3, Achievement Standard 91224 Target Group: Year 12 Economics - 25 Students. Focus Areas: 1. How do I effectively use formative assessment, measuring individual student progress along the way more accurately so as to provide more individual feedback, feed forward and motivation? How do I encourage and engage students in an active and collaborative conversation that will enhance the quality of their learning? What tools can I introduce that will offer more interactivity between students, the content and myself?

2. 3.

Rationale I have chosen to focus foremost on assessment for this teaching pilot. Whilst planned into Pilot 1.0, I ended up making limited use of formative tools to monitor student progress, relying on a summative task to gauge overall student performance. This failed to acknowledge the different pace at which different students progressed through the learning tasks in an online environment and failed to identify individual scaffolding needs along the way. Overall assessment turned out to be a weakness in that pilot. Student feedback has also informed this decision. According to Wang and Gearhart (2006, p. 35) teachers and students need formative assessment that is conducted on a more frequent basis and is focussed on the actual learning experiences. They go on to say that this form of assessment can provide just-intime ground for adjusting teaching and learning processes in order to accomplish the instructional objectives. The learning objectives of this 4 week economics pilot (see learning objectives to follow) require students to remember, understand, apply, analyse, evaluate and create knowledge in the context of economic growth in New Zealand. A significant element in their learning path towards external examination is developing the ability to construct longer written answers synthesising strands from within the content. This is on top of the need to recall and reproduce a range of economic models. To support this objective I intend to provide a variety of assessment methods as we progress through the pilot including multi-choice, peer to peer evaluations and essay type questioning. Herrington and Oliver as cited in (Reeves, 2006, p. 304) state that In an authentic learning environment assessment is based upon observations of student engagement and analysis of artefacts produced in the process of completing the tasks. Rather than using just one method, robust assessment requires the critical analysis of multiple forms of evidence that learning outcomes have been attained. I plan to trial a limited range of tools to aid in the assessment of lower order knowledge and comprehension skills. The most common question type used in eassessment is multiple choice (Sclater, Conole, Warburton, & Harvey, 2007). I will use the following: 1. Multi-choice/multi-select assessment Proprofs (www.proprofs.com). This also allows for a range of short answer style question types and records the data for each student. 2. If time allows I also intend to trial the Lesson feature in Moodle and use interactive questioning within the content. 3. Camtasia studio/Snagit to record short videos using clips from NCEA resources with worked examples interspersed with questions to gauge understanding. In the first pilot I used a closed Facebook group as the collaborative space for questions and interactions. In this pilot, and out of a desire to evaluate other

alternatives and to seek a better way of assessing short essay type answers, I plan to use the Moodle Forum activity. In this I will ask students to post answers to NCEA style questions incorporating peer to peer feedback and posting my own feedback at an individual level, including grading judgements and academic feed forward, Students need to be able to incorporate the feedback given into the next assignment (Singh & Pan, 2004, p. 302). Here Singh and Pan point to the need for immediate and detailed feedback. They go on to recommend surveying students during the course to garner opinions on how well the assessment methods are aligned with the learning outcomes (Singh & Pan, p. 302). For self-assessment purposes students will be provided with an assessment rubric against which they can assess their answers. Example:

My subsidiary goals in this pilot focus on collaboration, both teacher/student and student/student and the tools and techniques that can foster interactions. This goal will focus on both the learning value in topic based discussion and the methods by which this is best promoted. The challenge here is significant given that this form of interaction is not formally assessed by the National Qualifications Authority and students have had little or no prior skill development in this form of learning. 1. Powerpoint it gets a bad rap these days but I plan to use it as an interactive tool. I plan to monitor whether students engagement is increased after being asked to engage with the content of the powerpoint. This will mainly test their knowledge of economic models. 2. Forum Discussion as referenced earlier, peer to peer discussion will be encouraged in terms of assessment. 3. Facebook I will utilise the Facebook group to promote discussion around newspaper type issues that are in the context of the learning in class.

Course Objectives Learning Area: Level 2 NCEA Economics Achievement Standard: Economics 2.3 (AS91224) Analyse economic growth using economic concepts and models Target group: This group comprises 25 Level 2 (Year 12) students currently being taught by a first year teacher employed to cover my study leave in 2012. They are working towards NZQA examinations in November and are currently focussed on the above achievement standard on economic growth. I will pick up this group for the duration of the pilot and will complete the teaching of the content in this standard as well as prepare these students for their end of year school based practice exams beginning in the week of 10th September. I have an established relationship with the group having stepped in during the year to occasionally support their teacher. Students will spend 3 hours per week in the online environment and a further 1 hour per week in class. After completion of the four weeks of online learning, students should be able to: Integrate changes shown on the production possibility frontier model into detailed explanations of causes of economic growth. Integrate changes shown on the aggregate demand and aggregate supply model into detailed explanations of the causes of fluctuations in the business cycle (mainly due to changes in aggregate demand components)

and supply-side causes of changes in potential growth (due to changes in factors affecting aggregate supply). Integrate change shown on the circular flow model (for example, changes in withdrawals and injections) into detailed explanations of causes of economic growth. Compare and contrast the impact of the different causes of changes in economic growth, for example, the differing impacts of a decrease in interest rates and a decrease in nominal wages. Compare and contrast the impacts of changes in economic growth on various groups in New Zealand society and /or the environment, for example: the uneven distribution of income and uneven regional growth rates or the positive and negative outcomes of growth, such as, increased purchasing power for consumers weighed against the environmental damage caused when producers use unsustainable production methods. Approach their end of year practice exams with the confidence to expect assessment results in line with their individual goals.

Course Map - Level 2 Economics Economic Growth AS91224

Term 3 Weeks 5 to 9
Course Week beginning
Monday 13 August
th

Teacher: Mr Chris Bell

Assignments/tasks to be completed this week
Compete pre-test on economic models Make a forum entry for each class. Post answer to one fully explain question. Comment on one other Complete EOW multi-choice test and review progress. Engage in CHAT facility Take the Supply side Quiz Post your answer to the Compare and Contrast PPC question. Write a Compare and contrast question and a model answer. Attempt to answer two other questions and mark Post your answer to the Compare and Contrast CFM question.

This weeks focus

Review of economic models used to show economic growth incl. PPC, AD/AS model and the circular flow model Review the business cycle Explain the causes of growth

Monday 20 August

th

Explain factors affecting AS (supply-side policies) Explain the causes of growth Compare and contrast different causes and their impact on growth

Monday 27 August

th

rd

Monday 3 September

Compare and contrast the impacts of changes in economic growth on various groups in New Zealand society and /or the environment, for example: the uneven distribution of income and uneven regional growth rates or the positive and negative outcomes of growth, such as, increased purchasing power for consumers weighed against the environmental damage caused when producers use unsustainable production methods. Develop your essay type answering techniques by constructing answers from essay prompts. Review and revise INFLATION Review and revise INTERNATIONAL TRADE Prepare for the practice exam next week. Include setting an achievement goal for yourself.

Take the Causes of Growth Quiz Post your answer to the Compare and Contrast question. Write a Compare and contrast question and a model answer. Attempt to answer two other questions and mark Post your answer to the Compare and Contrast question.

Take the Inflation Quiz Take the Trade Quiz Post your answer to the Compare and Contrast question - Inflation

Post your answer to the Compare and Contrast question - Trade. Monday 10 September
th

Final preparation for exams only 2 sessions available this week.

Submit your practice exam for comment.

Assessment The assessment process in this pilot will be formative and ongoing. Students will complete practice exams at the completion of the 5 week period and their results from this summative form of assessment will be reported on in my final report. Results from quizzes will be discussed with individual students and resit opportunities will be made available are suitable remedial steps have been taken. These will include reference to study notes and possible individual tuition. Students submitting longer written answers into forums will receive immediate and individual feedback, including a grade and academic feed forward. Evaluation There will be two formal course evaluation requests given to students. The first of these will be at the beginning of week 3 and offered as a short answer quiz through proprofs. Due to the organic nature of the course changes will be incorporated to respond to feedback. A final evaluation survey will be conducted at the end of the course. References Reeves, T. (2006). How do you know they are learning?: the importance of alignment in higher education. International Journal of Learning Technology 2(4), 294-309. Sclater, N., Conole, G., Warburton, B., & Harvey, J. (2007). E-Assessment. In G. Conole, & M. Oliver, Contemporary Perspectives in E-Learning Research. London and New York: Routledge. Singh, P., & Pan, W. (2004). Online Education: Lessons for administrators and instructors. College Student Journal 38(2), 302. Wang, H., & Gearhart D.L. (2006). Designing and Developing Web-based Instruction. New Jersey: Pearson.