All comments welcome, Ryan.
1. What types of on-line features or information sources are needed learning in your field?
I primarily teach high school physics and robotics to grade 11 and 12 students. The types of on-line features or information sources that I feel are needed learning in this field would be resources that help deliver the curriculum, increase student learning and engagement, and promote teacher training and Professional Development. I have read other people's posts who have listed common sites that could be used for referencing (Wikipedia, etc.), social networking (facebook, etc.), and searching (Google, etc.). The resources that I have listed below are specific sites that enhance learning opportunities for teachers and students in high school physics and robotics.
For Students and Teachers:
- Physics Education Technology (interactive simulations)
- The Physics Classroom (tutorials, quizzes and multimedia animations)
- How Stuff Works (easy explanations from complex systems to everyday technologies)
- Colorado Physics 2000 (visual conceptualizations of modern physics topics)
- Lego Mindstorms (instructions, support, and community for building robots out of Lego)
- Labs and Exercises(PEI Dept. of Ed. learning and teaching resources)
- PASCO Probeware (resources, downloads, products and support)
- Aliant Learning Centre (on-line physics tutorial videos and demonstrations)
- Robots East (resources and competition for robot design and construction)
2. What steps can individual teachers take to enhance, and contribute to, the general collection of material that students in your field have access to?
For years teachers have created Communities Of Practice (COP) where they can share best-practices, resources, and tips for success. A relatively new trend that builds of this idea of knowledge management is the establishment of Electronic Performance Support Systems (EPSS). An EPSS is a computer based system created by teachers and students which has as its primary function to increase “day one performance” (Gery, 1995) and learning by enabling “quick and easy access to the information (and tools) needed at the time the task is being performed” (Sleight, 1993), regardless of the ability or learning style of the user.
In a nutshell, an EPSS is a web page that offers some of the features inherent to Web 2.0. Students and teachers can view, download and upload from a database of relevant resources. Some resources could include lesson plans, activities, discussion forums, tests, labs, curriculum documents and timelines to help both teachers and students meet their instructional goals. The information is presented in real-time, is interactive and easily updated.
Over the past year some physics teachers on PEI have come together to revise the provincial grade 11 and 12 physics curricula. During our discussions we have shared our concerns that Professional Development and training sessions are happening less and less frequently due to time and budget constraints. We also agreed that collectively we have a vast wealth of lesson plan activities and strategies for student success. This comes as no surprise to the average teacher. We all know that there are plenty of great ideas and resources available in the minds and computers of our fellow colleagues. What is needed is an accessible database to store, retrieve and update these resources.
The PEI Department of Education Science Programs Specialist listened to our concerns and created a knowledge management system specifically to be used by PEI physics teachers. There now exists an open source Web-based learning content management system, ATutor, that can be accessed by physics teachers to upload resources, pose questions, discuss strategies and share ideas in a Community of Practice that spans the entire province. The site is still new and the database continues to grow as individual teachers begin to upload and share a collection of material that has been classroom tested and supports common curriculum outcomes and instructional goals.
Resources:
Gery, G., 1991. Electronic Performance Support Systems. Retrieved Feb. 18, 2009, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electronic_performance_support_systems
Sleight, D. 1993. What is Performance Support and What Isn’t. Retrieved Feb. 18, 2009 from http://www.msu.edu/~sleightd/epssyn.html
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