Tameka Martin

EDIT 611
Prof. Olesova
Technology Deep Dive

Why Gooru?
This past summer I received training in blended learning from BetterLesson. The training
focused on innovative ways to incorporate technology into the classroom. One of the tools I
particularly enjoyed was Gooru. It was a playlist for students. Teachers could create a playlist of
readings and activities for students to complete. You could also look at many of the archived
resources that other teachers used. I thought this might be a useful tool for student engagement.
Students can work at their own pace, and I could customize the playlist for individual students or
by class. I also thought it might be useful to use in case I was absent and a substitute was running
the class. Often times students do not pay attention to the substitute teachers, and it is difficult to
get a substitute to implement the lesson plans with fidelity. The playlist allows students to take
control of their learning in an engaging way.

Overview of Gooru Features

Gooru is a mixture of a personalized learning environment for students but also gives teachers
the possibility to rapidly create e-learning. On the website it is described as a free, open,
community-led online platform offering K-12 learning resources and real-time data to track
learners progress (Gooru.org). It is a way to organize various online learning content. Teachers
can attach videos, make assessments, and provide students with instant feedback. Content can be
personalized for different students. The best part is there is a growing collection of resources
curated by teachers. Gooru has over 16 million resources currently.

What makes Gooru different is that a team of educators are curating teaching resources. Teachers
can go in and search for lessons on their particular topic. There are lessons available that contain
factually correct, image rich web content that can aid students and teachers when they are
learning about a specific subject, such as velocity (New Media Consortium 2012).

Some consider Gooru to be a search engine for education. While you can search for lessons on a
wide variety of educational topics, Gooru is so much more that that. It allows teachers to make
customized playlists for students. Teachers can also receive feedback on mastery and progress as
students work through the assignments. It is easy to customize the lessons based on the learning
needs of each student.

Teachers can add new collections for other teachers to use. There is also the ability to rate other
teachers playlists. If a teacher likes a playlist someone else made, they can use it in its entirety
or they can remix it, adding to, deleting from, and/or editing the content. It is a nice change from
just reading text in class. As a teacher I can give students access to more reading materials than
the limited selection in their textbooks. It can give students a more rounded perspective.
 Alignment with Instructional Design Principles
Segmenting Principle
It is important to break down complex lessons into smaller segments for the learner to process.
This allows the learner to process complex information without getting overwhelmed. Many
studies have been conducted to show the importance of breaking up material into segments. One
study had participants learn about lightning (Clark & Mayer 2011). Mayer and Chandler found
that learners who received the segmented presentation performed better on transfer tests than the
learners who received a continuous presentation, even though identical material was presented in
both conditions (2001). Gooru allows for the lessons to be broken up into segments.
Assessments can be added in between segments before users move on to the next segment.

Practice
Practice, also known as an interaction, is important to learning any new skill. Clark and Mayer
explain that you should distribute interactions throughout the instructional environment (2011).
An important feature of practice is receiving feedback. Gooru allows teachers to create
assessments in the playlist and give immediate feedback to students when appropriate. The
teachers and students can monitor the student's progress and mastery, giving a snapshot of
learning.

e-Learning Navigation
In e-Learning modules there is program control and learner control. Program control is when the
program dictates the pace at which the lesson proceeds. In learner control, the learner can
proceed through the lesson at their own pace. Learner control is important because learners do
not all learn at the same pace. Students do not grasp concepts in the same amount of time In a
study by Tabbers and de Koeijer, they found that transfer learning was far better from the
learner-controlled version. The participants in the learner-controlled version spent an average of
almost three times longer than those using the program-controlled versions (2010). Gooru
allows students to move through a playlist at their own pace. It give the learner control over their
own learning, allowing the slower learners to access just as much information as the faster
learners.

My Learning Module
When using Gooru to create a playlist I found many pros and cons. It was nice to be able to go in
and search for my particular topic. The search returned playlists that had resources for my topic.
Unfortunately, the objectives were aligned with Common Core. Virginia does not use Common
Core State Standards, so this was a con for me. It will be a benefit for many teachers, but I am
not one of them. When I started exploring the playlists that were already created, I found that
many playlists had links that no longer worked. This was another con. I would hate to assign a
pre-created playlist to my students, only to have them no be able to access the information. There
should be some sort of review process to find these broken links and remove them. Finally, after
making and remixing playlists, I realized I wasnt able to insert a PowerPoint. I could only link
digital content. That is fine for stories online, but not for teaching new skills. Overall, I like the
concept of Gooru. It will amazing if they added a few more options to add PowerPoints and edit
or fix broken links.
 References
Clark, R. C., & Mayer, R. E. (2011). E-Learning and the science of instruction: Proven guidelines

for consumers and designers of multimedia learning (3rd ed.). San Francisco, CA: Pfeiffer.

Gooru. (n.d.). Retrieved October 20, 2015, from http://about.gooru.org/

Mayer, R.E., & Chandler, P. (2001). When learning is just a click away: Does simple user

interaction foster deeper understanding of multimedia messages? Journal of Educational

Psychology, 93, 390-397.

New Media Consortium. (2012). Personal Learning Environments Time-to-Adoption Horizon:

Two to Three Years. Retrieved February 20, 2016, from

http://redarchive.nmc.org/publications/2012-horizon-report-k12.