[B] Assignment Week 3:

Based on what you’ve written and considered over the last two weeks, create a rough draft assignment sheet. Format it in a way that makes sense for you. Below are some guidelines to help you with drafting. Due Friday, 8/5.

1) Include a brief description of the assignment 

  • What are students making?
  • Will they create/edit an entire resources in one semester, or just a part of a resource?
  • What subject-specific topic does the assignment address?
  • What makes this assignment “open” (describe how this assignment can be re-used, revised, remixed etc.)?

2) Include guidelines and learning goals

  • What content or features of the resource-to-be-made/edited are essential?
  • What parts of the assignment do you want students to prioritize?
  • What are your responsibilities in this assignment and what are the students’? 

3) Include some (tentative) dates for when major milestones of the project need to be completed

8 thoughts on “[B] Assignment Week 3:

  1. Howard Mandelbaum

    The assignment is to go to the Iowa state site (https://instr.iastate.libguides.com/oer/math) and from there go to the mathematics for liberal arts and pick the statistics section (and after reading the material pick an example problem given and solve it. Then comment on its worth and value to the introduction of statistics. After which the student will create an example that “improves” on the example from the book.
    They will be creating just part of a resource and each student must pick a different example. That way all the statistic problems will be addressed.
    The book itself is OER and while the example is not altered the work of the students utilize the material and then they can create their own examples. The work will be peer reviewed before being submitted for grade and would be part of the course grade with other midterm tests and a final making up the balance of the course grade.
    The learning goals would be utilizing statistics understanding the field’s purpose and being able to apply theoretical knowledge to real world situations. It would get them ready for more advance statistical courses (MAT 250) and get them to think as a researcher by giving and taking criticism. The work itself could then be utilize in future MAT 108 classes and developed further.
    In order to do the assignment, the students must understand the subject. Before they can update the example chosen, they have to do the book given example. The priority is to create their own example based on the material. My role would-be as a facilitator. To keep them on track for developing their own example and leading the peer review so that it stays on an academic plane and does not devolve.

    Reply
    1. Bruce Shenitz (he/him/his)

      I like the way the activities build to your larger goal of “applying theoretical knowledge to real world situations.” I also like the fact the ways that you’re building in peer review and have given thought to grading/evaluation, which I know is a concern that a lot of folks in the course have talked about.

      Reply
  2. Marlene Goldstein (She/Her)

    In re-reading the “autogenic training” I wrote about in assignment #2 last week, I realized that I definitely want to push forward with this assignment, that is, to elevate a training session that the students merely read about and (maybe) practice individually at home, to a collaborative group project that students create over the course of the semester. My strategy would be to provide the basic written template of an autogenic training session, and then have the students work in groups to “bring the template to life” by mixing in the voicing, the visuals, and the audio content. I expect this could take a good portion of the semester, starting from week #4 with the lecture on relaxation techniques, to almost the end. Students in future semesters can work off of this template created by the students, shaping it and adding new variations.

    For me, just getting down the logistics of creating this assignment for the students seems a daunting task but a challenging one I look forward to. But even if I got through all the logistics, how to actually make it happen? I toyed with the idea of podcast but there seemed many unknowns and I would have been really stuck if not for Bruce, who suggested that I go to the CUNY Manifold site, which I did (thanks, Bruce!). It’s a platform that is very useful for such a project. I made an account and they automatically set me up as a Project Creator and I will be sure to start exploring this shortly. I see useful links such as “Begin a new project” and “Add/embed resources”; I have a feeling that these and the other starter guides will help make my project a reality. If anyone wants to check out this great resource, by the way, the URL for the CUNY platform is cuny.manifoldapp.org.

    The project that I have in mind will be in two parts, the first part will be a series of eight steps to relax the body by promoting a sensation of warmth and heaviness in the body, and I will supply the starting template for these. The next part will entail adding in the imagery, ie, first relaxing the physical body and then adding imagery to relax the mind, which is in essence the reasoning behind A.G. After the lecture on autogenic training and working with the template for the first part of the project, the students will develop audio/visuals, perhaps individually, and then they can work in groups, review each other’s contributions, and assemble the works into one piece. The result should be a colorful rendition of an A.G. session, developed by classmates in collaboration.

    The students will be given the following basic template for the first part of the project. The beginning and ending instructions are part of the project and thus subject to the audio/visual development as well. The basic template for part 1 will be somewhat as follows:

    Instructions: The object is to relax your body by promoting a sensation of warmth and heaviness. Sit comfortably or lie down in a quiet, dimmed room. Take several slow and meaningful deep breaths as you begin to give concentrated attention to your body and slowly, meaningfully repeat the following sequential statements several times each:

    • My left arm is heavy. My right arm is heavy. Both of my arms are heavy.
    • My left leg is heavy. My right leg is heavy. Both of my legs are heavy.
    • My left arm is warm. My right arm is warm. Both of my arms are warm.
    • My left leg is warm. My right leg is warm. Both of my legs are warm.
    • My heartbeat is calm and regular (repeat several times).
    • My breathing is calm and relaxed (repeat several times).
    • My abdomen is warm (repeat several times).
    • My forehead is cool (repeat several times).

    Instructions: Stay in this relaxed physical state for as long as you wish. To end the session at this point, breathe slowly and deeply several times and slowly open your eyes. Look around you. When you feel ready, stretch your arms and legs, stand up slowly and stretch again. Take several more deep breaths, and enjoy the rest of your day feeling rejuvenated and physically revitalized. ~end part 1~

    Here is a rough timeline:

    Week #1 (4th week of class): Groups will be assembled and students will be told to read the chapter and follow the exercise individually at home.
    Weeks 2 & 3: Students will develop ideas, find peaceful moving images and relaxation music, and add these to the resource bin in the manifold platform. Students will also add a recording of their voice reciting the instructions and the 8 steps. Students will be encouraged to explore their classmates’ contributions in the resource bin.
    Weeks 3-5: Students can begin to collaborate with each other to assemble a completed A.G. session, complete with visuals, audio, and voice-over guidance.

    This is a rough draft of the project with a rough timeline. If it all goes well and we finish the project on time, we can either spend some weeks refining the project, or perhaps moving on to the deeper exercise, which is adding part two, the guided imagery. This is quite more involved and I am happy to forego that for another semester or not, depending on how the project takes form. I don’t think I’d want students to grade each other’s work just yet, and I have yet to develop a grading rubric.

    The learning goals would be a much deeper experience for the students – one in which they not only experience the exercise in a more encompassing way, but where they also have a say in the developing and the content selection of the session, thus gaining self-insight into what they respond to most. They will also gain experience in corroborating with one another and with leading a session, thus enhancing the learning on a level far superior than just book reading.

    Reply
    1. Bruce Shenitz (he/him/his)

      Marlene,

      This sounds like it will create a very valuable resource for the students in the class, for future students, and users outside the classroom. It may be that the first time you implement this plan that you’ll just want to limit it to weeks 1-3. It may be that moving ahead to create collaborative projects will be too ambitious for a first go-round. If they’re moving ahead smoothly, then you can always proceed to the collaboration phase.

      Reply
      1. Anonymous

        Thank you for the feedback, Bruce. I actually feel quite relieved reading it, because even as I worried that it seems to be a heavy undertaking, I was also worried that it was not even enough, because I didn’t even add the part 2, which is the imagery/visualization.

        Reply
  3. Julie Kiss (She/Her/Hers)

    After this past week’s discussion this assignment seems much more feasible and less daunting. I plan to have the students create a glossary prior to both the midterm and the final exam. It will serve as extra credit for the initial semester as I work out the logistics. The expectation is that the students would edit/ format other student entries by adding links and images, making a thesaurus-like entry that will be developed over time. This assignment will serve as a study and reference resource that will be used across sections and in future semesters. It will initially be open just to the students of this course, but I hope to open it up entirely to all interested parties when I would of course allow remixing and revisions.

    Guidelines: The students would be required to work on submissions either through editing of text, formatting, or addition of additional links or images. They would be required to cite any resources used in a running reference page. I would want them to focus on first adding the correct material, clear concise definitions from the provided texts and class PowerPoints before they move onto to formatting. I would moderate and provide feedback, while it would be the students responsibility to determine what vocabulary terms and concepts they will work on and add to the repository.

    Tentative dates: Exams will remain open for a week due to asynchronous nature of the course. Midterm will run from potentially Thursday, 10/6 through Thursday, 10/13. Final exams will run during exam week from Thursday, December 15th to Wednesday, December 21st. Assignments should be drafted two weeks prior to the exam open date; finalized the day before each exam opens.

    Reply
    1. Bruce Shenitz (he/him/his)

      I’m really intrigued to see so many people planning to do a glossary-based assignment. I admit that I’d assumed that it was very basic and perhaps not so interesting and useful, but I now see I was mistaken. I like the idea of the glossary as a preparation for the midterm and final–it really scaffolds the work of the entire semester.

      Reply
  4. Cody D. Stitzel (she/her/hers)

    This course uses an open textbook titled Abnormal Psychology, which can be found at: https://www.oercommons.org/courses/abnormal-psychology-simple-book-publishing/view

    Chapter 3 of the textbook, Psychological Disorders, covers content that is the focus of this course. While the chapter presents the most important information on this topic, it could benefit from modification and expansion.

    As students complete the assigned readings during the first month of the semester, they will identify content areas that are missing, are unclear, should by supported by citing psychological research findings, or would be strengthened by case examples. At the beginning of the second month, students will briefly meet with the instructor to collaboratively decide on three content areas they identified in the readings that need improvement. In the remaining three months, students will work on researching/writing the modifications/additions (completing ~one per month), each of which should be no longer than two pages (following APA guidelines and format). Students will create, work, and submit their assignments in a Google Doc that is shared with the instructor. In addition to providing students corrective feedback and a grade on the assignment (which I would create a detailed rubric for), I would also aim to reuse their written and edited work in my future classes. I could provide future students with the excerpts and ask them to edit and expand on them until they are at a high enough standard to be included in the online textbook.

    Reply

Leave a Reply to Marlene Goldstein Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *