Promoting a Learning Community

Class Participation Assessment Rubric

Meritorious Post C

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2. Copy and paste your meritorious post in this text box. Indicate location of post.
Café 10 Week 4: Discussion Topic One: Your Personal Context
The following was posted in my Research Café to create community and allow for setting a personal context for the topic. The last post is the
focus:
Ed Pawliw
No unread replies. 9 9 replies.
In your professional/teaching context, would you see validity in implementing a DBR instructional framework? Why or why not? Would this
type of framework assist with activating a classroom? (By activating we mean centring the learning experience on the learner).
Replies and responses to replies:
ALI HODROJE
Mar 15, 2018 Mar 15 at 8:55am
Hi Ed,
Great café so far. I really enjoyed the video about ''Cognitive Apprenticeship''. In the video he discusses a three fold process of showing
students the bigger picture (and the ''doing''), scaffolding (providing a forum for help), and lastly the eventual withdrawing of the scaffold.
Even though the reading is focused on STEM, I quite liked this line that appears early on in it:
''Specifically, DBR connects teachers and subject matter experts into a design partnership responsible for documenting and
steering the learning environment towards the most effective course''
As someone who does not teach a STEM subject, I find this idea is still somewhat applicable outside. I was in a classroom where we would
ask kids to chose a subject that they wanted to self-teach and then teach the classroom. So, the project really focused on some of the ideas
that the youtube video and reading discussed: focus on the big picture, the subject, be there for the student groups (scaffolding), and
eventually let them create their own project where they can work and eventually show to the class.
I am quite interested to hear how other students in this class, especially those not in STEM, will approach this question.
Ed Pawliw
Mar 15, 2018 Mar 15 at 9:55pm
 Hi Ali
Thanks for checking out the Cafe.
Though the case study is centred around a STEM class, I was interested in the application of DBR to improve the educational experience for
students through a collaborative, iterative process as a concept that could be applied across multiple contexts. So many times as teachers we
either do not have the release time or peers with which to participate in what I would consider valuable professional development for
classroom improvement. I know we reflect on experiences for improvement, but seldom does this include another perspective. From the
experience you recount, was there opportunity to take a step back with peers and analyze the experience for content and delivery
improvement?
ALI HODROJE
Mar 16, 2018 Mar 16 at 8:19am
 Hey Ed,
There certainly was. What we also did was asked students to peer-review other works (anonymously, unless they chose to do it during the
presentation portion).
What I found to be quite interesting about this portion, is that when I would ''teach back'' what the students had presented, they would see
things much more differently. I think sometimes students are so focused on the project that they sometimes forget that there are other
humans who have to process it.
I would be incredibly interested in hearing more about your own experiences with your own class on this, if you would care to share.
Ed Pawliw
Mar 17, 2018 Mar 17 at 1:45pm
Hi Ali
Having peer-review has always been a bit of a concern for me. I really like the idea of blind reviews though. This would help to remove some
of the peer bias that may come up. This would work very well as a component of community building through constructive feedback.
Having discovered DBR fairly recently and being the only teacher in Robotics, I haven't been able to experiment with this model in the same
field as the article. Rather, I have had the opportunity with my Construction compatriot to test the concept. The process has proven to be very
responsive. Since we have preps at different times, we will observe in each other's class. We will also sit down and analyse delivery
strategies, instructional resources, projects, materials, tooling to employ, and supporting technology. We have been able to dig down virtually
to the micro level to examine our practice. This doesn't mean that we are attempting to create a canned course that is a one size fits all
solution. We understand that our different personalities will affect delivery and the learner experience. Therefore, we concentrate on common
elements while offering feedback to try and improve each other's personal practice. For instance, we have examined demonstrations we each
provide for a particular process and have reconciled the two approaches and developed how-to videos that we post on the LMS (Learning
management System) for each other's class. While I prefer to employ constructivist strategies, the other teacher has behaviourist leanings.
We have incorporated elements of each into our practices where we have seen utility. The main concepts coming out of DBR I like is the
process that ties theory to practice, it pays head to the unique nature of each specific class, and that it doesn't necessarily advance one
theory over the other, but provides a means to investigate what would be best practices for the benefit of the students' educational
experience.
Reference:
Moorhead, M., Listman, J., & Kapila, V. (n.d.). A Robotics-focused Instructional Framework for Design-based Research in Middle School
Classrooms. 2015 ASEE Annual Conference and Exposition Proceedings, 26.103.1-26.103.19. doi:10.18260/p.23444

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Document Policy #81
3. Apply the assessment rubric below to your post. Don’t forget to total the scores.
Criteria Indicators Score (total 15/ 5 each)
Sense-making  Post demonstrates an understanding of  5/5
and application readings and texts using quotations and all
claims about education are substantiated
with references to the literature
 Post is original and attempts to make
meaning of prior personal experiences and
identifies applications from the literature to
a current context
 Post introduces new factual, conceptual,
and theoretical knowledge into the
discussion
Building  Establishes a social and cognitive  5/5
community and presence online with the expression of
leadership constructive perspectives and affect. (This
can take the form of agreeing or
disagreeing to a comment, evidence that
you are attending to, understanding, and
thinking about other’s responses,
consensus building, forming goals,
objectives, encouraging, acknowledging,
and reinforcing one another’s
contributions).
 Extends discussion by asking peers or
group members literal questions
 Instructor posts are responded to where
appropriate (eg. where the instructor has
asked a question to you personally or
invited a class response)
 Post is on time
 Rules of netiquette are observed; all posts
are constructive in nature and show
evidence of application of course concepts
Communicating  Posting makes a concise point that is  4.5/5
clearly relevant to the topic and falls within
the realms of discussion on epistemology,
constructivism, and learning and e-learning
 Subject header is a unique summary of the
topic and promotes readership
 Spelling and grammar do not detract from
the message
 Where applicable, references are cited
with at least author, year, and title of
publication
TOTAL  14.5 /15

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Document Policy #81
4. Provide in 1 paragraph, a rationale for the self-assessment and grade allocation. Submit to the
assignment dropbox.

This post was a response to Café 10 Week 4: Discussion Topic One: Your Personal Context. The
focus of the self-reflective evaluation is the last post I authored in the discussion that is dated
March 17.

The reply presented a personal context for implementation of the DBR concept. It provided a
scenario that linked personal experience with the topic. The post provided a practical
application of the concept. For this I submit a grade of 5/5. The post was intended to build
consensus on the topic of reflective practice by providing an example of the application. Rules
of netiquette were followed in the post and it was submitted in a timely manner. For this I
submit a grade of 5/5 for consideration. The post contributes as a response to another peer
with content relating to constructivism and learning. There are no to minimal grammatical and
spelling mistakes and thus do not detract from the message. The referenced reading used was
cited with required elements. Since the post did not contain a title, I submit a grade of 4.5/5.

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Document Policy #81