Reflection (Week 8/9)

Now that you have seen what other people did in creating their units, is there anything that you might do differently if you were to redesign your own unit?


Right away I noticed that I liked the way a lot of the groups presented their units in a website or blog form. It helped familiarize me with a lot of workspaces that are out there to try. Some were easier to follow than others, and I think the format has a lot to do with how well your unit is understood.

As for the content of the unit, my partner and I designed the unit to be from a Monday-Sunday work week. Other groups organized their units around Day 1, Day 2, etc, instead of the days of the week. I thought that numbering the days was a good idea for courses that might start at any time during the year, but I think for middle and high school students I would still stick with days of the week, because it is easier for them to keep track of.

A lot of the curriculums used video demonstrations and other interactive games to help students learn or review. I would have liked to add in another interactive piece like this, for example, in the examining the Washington Crossing the Delaware painting. I would also add in one or two scheduled live chats for the whole class. Another element that I like that I would add in is more student choice. In our Online Schools course, for example, there are options as to how many articles to read for the week. I think middle and high school students would really like to have a choice in which readings they do. Other than these slight differences, I think our unit comprehensively covered the topic and used many web and 2.0 tools to keep student interest and promote understanding.

Finally, looking at our unit overall, the only part I might redesign would have to be changed after I was already teaching the course. There may not be enough time in the weeks in order to complete all the activities we developed. We can either extend the length of the unit or possibly make some of these activities optional.