Design Briefs & Quia Online

This week we began by having a look at design briefs.They are to work as a tool to aid in higher order thinking. Greg suggested they be used and written all over, a working draft, then later a good copy could be produced.

Here is one we worked on in a group and I've typed up. Click on it to see the detail.

The use of this design brief proforma did seem somewhat cumbersome, and after the fact, as we came to most of the conclusions before even picking up the sheet. That said, I am an adult, aware of things such as potential energy, while the activity would be posed to primary aged students. Additionally once students become more familiar with the proforma I'd expect them to better integrate it into the process. The benefits of this proforma are to promote detailed, documented higher order thinking. This could then be used when assessing the students, specifically in the domain of 'thinking processes'.

The task itself was completed in small groups, where we were given an rubber band, some card and a small frog cutout. The instruction was to make the frog jump. This turned out to be a simple yet effective open ended task, where there were many ways to achieve the goal.

As is my nature, I enjoy competition, and would of enjoyed a competitive aspect to the task, for example a high jump competition. As a teacher though, I realise that a lot of students don't like competitiveness, to the point where it can prevent students participation.

We then moved on to look at the Quia website, which is an excellent resource to develop interactive online learning tools.

You can easily develop you very own quizzes ( see image left), as well as a whole lot of interactive games. You can also search existing quizzes or activities created by other users.

This website is thorough, and does what it is intended to do, very well. It is easy to use, navigate and tailor to very specific needs.

The amount of settings which you can change is surprising including input settings, access settings, feedback settings and reporting settings. These include randomising to inhibit cheating, question value changing, grading open ended questions online, setting time limits and secret question to restrict access (see image left)etc.

Features of the website include:

Matching game Flashcards Concentration game Word search puzzle Battleship Challenge board Columns activity Hangman game

Jumbled words Ordered list activity Picture perfect activity Pop-ups Rags-to-riches game Scavenger hunt Cloze activity Patterns

As a teacher I could specifically develop a quiz for my topic (eg. inferring) and tailor it to the level of my students. I could ask a group, or the whole class go onto the computers and access the quiz, via the URL I'd written on the board, or from my quiz homepage which could be saved as a favourite on their computers. Later I could print off the results for evidence for reporting (Assessment of Learning) or to tailor the teaching for struggling students (Assessment for Learning). See image on left for results screen.

As an early finish activity I could have another activity, which needs the secret word to access, which I could give them, when I am satisfied they have completed what was asked of them. This lesson would enable students to get on with their tasks without the need for constant teacher aid, which would free me as the teacher to rove the classroom and give help in other areas needed.

Quia offers a 30 day trial in which you can see how good this website is. A one year subscription costs US$49 per instructor licence. Group discounts are available. If you were to use Quia extensively then the cost would be well worth it. Even better if your school were to pay. If you only used it once or twice a year then perhaps just using the trial version is your best bet. The biggest downside though is you'll lose your work once the trial expires.