Canvas – My Scientific Hypothesis

 

A hypothesis is simply defined as an “educated guess”.  In class, I have my students create hypotheses all the time.  I am looking for my students to make predictions (or educated guesses) as a centre of focus within their exploration of topics.

Okay – so I have had a change of heart with the module that I am going to be working on.  I have decided to forgo working on Science 10 and focus on Environmental Science 20 AP – a course that I am teaching semester 2. Why the reason for the switch?  Simple – I want to take canvas on a “test run”, and the only way to accurately do that was to test it out on a class that I am currently prepping for.  My rational is very similar to Sarah’ s post about her grade 9 music class. To gather data, and feedback from my students.  I have chosen the advanced placement students for this data collection for a few reasons:  they will need to be independent learners (I teach the at the same time as the regular environmental science group) and I feel that they will be the be very honest about their experience with Canvas.  I also think that these students will be very strong advocates for themselves and their educational goals, therefore if something is not right on Canvas, I will no doubt hear about it immediately!   The data I am searching for is how user friendly this platform is and I am looking to see if the students will be able to independently keep a pace that is required for completion of the course (I have entered all important dates into their class calendar as gentle reminders and I have entered approximate timeframes for each lesson on the google slide presentation – we only have 3 months to complete the course).  I also really like how it is compatible with Google Drive, which I use all the time now.

Photo Credit: old-fogey Flickr via Compfight cc

My hypothesis for this course module is:  IF I use the Canvas LMS platform and create a  self-directed course module (Atmospheric Systems) for my APES students, THEN the students will  become comfortable with the program within 5 school days and be able to keep pace and move through the course content  independently of the regular ES20 students.

I am very intrigued about Google Classroom, although I have decided not to look at it simply because I don’t want to be focusing on a LMS platform that my school division will not support, right Lindy?

So I decided to explore Edmodo, I really liked how easy the platform looked and it allowed for quizzes and polls. I also really liked that you could attach directly from Google Drive right into Edmodo!  This is something that I went back to canvas to search for and did not see it right away, but once I added on the app, voila, there is was!  In the process, I also found a lot of other LTI apps to add to Canvas!  

In the end, I found that Canvas was going to be more functional for me than Edmodo, and although I would love to try out Google Classroom, I just don’t want to dip my toe into something I know that I will not be allowed to implement into my own teaching practice right away.

While reading Audrey Watter’s post, I, like Katherine, did some sole searching about the way I am using technology in my educational pedagogy.

“We in education can reclaim the Web and more broadly ed-tech for teaching and learning. But we must reclaim control of the data, content, and knowledge we create.”

It had me thinking about the closing date that I have put on my APES modules; do I really want the course to close on June 30?  Or, should I keep it open forever?  If I keep it open forever, will I lose control of the data, content and knowledge that I have created???  I know that I can make my courses by invite only, but I can also share them on commons.  Do I want to do that, should I?

Does anyone else feel this way too?

I then did some more research on LMS and VLE‘s.  I wanted to know more about these systems and stumbled upon this video from Stephen Downes where he discussed the difference between an LMS and a PLE.

 

I really liked the way he described the LMS as being personalized, while the PLE is depersonalized.  Also, his smiley face drawings were fun!  Maybe what I have been wanting to create all along for my students are PLE’s and I just haven’t figured it out yet. I am hoping that canvas will allow for this with their collaboration tool.

Maybe this will become an add on to my hypothesis?