CHLD 354: The School-Aged Child
CHLD 354: The School-Aged Child
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Course Description
Course Description
This class examines the physical, cognitive, emotional, and psychosocial aspects of growth during the school-aged years (ages 5 through 12), as well as contextual influences (e.g., family, school, peer group) on children's development. Particular attention is paid to the implications of developmental patterns for those who work with school-aged children.
The course is an elective in Child Development and is available to all majors.
Course Modality
Course Modality
This is a fully online class that involves lecture, discussions, and independent work. Each week, students:
-participate in a synchronous 75-minute Zoom class lecture and discussion on Mondays
-complete asynchronous readings and activities as outlined on Blackboard on Wednesdays
Elements of Course Design
Elements of Course Design
This online course was designed with a focus on organization and ease of navigation.
-The home page includes general information about the course that students can easily see and can quickly access. This information includes the course meeting days and formats, the professor, updates and due dates, and the syllabus and schedule. See examples here: Examples of CHLD 254 Blackboard Home Page
-The content for the course is oranized into weekly folders. Each folder contains an overview of what is coming up that week, learning outcomes for the week, materials and resources needed for the week (including lecture slides, links to readings and assignments), and a preview of what is coming up next week. The structure of the weekly folders stays the same so that students know what to expect and where to find what they need.
Student Engagement & Feedback
Student Engagement & Feedback
Creating a safe, welcoming, and engaging classroom community is an important goal in this class. Opportunities for students to feel like they are part of the class community and to contribute their ideas are intentionally built into each class. For example:
-before each class Zoom session officially begins, a Weekly Welcome ice-breaker question is posted on the screen and students can answer the question or respond to others in the chat box. These questions are meant to give students a chance to get to know each other in a fun and personal way. See examples here: Examples of Weekly Welcomes
-throughout each class Zoom session, students are asked to answer participation questions about the content. They can respond through the chat box or verbally and are given points for their participation.
-in the middle of the semester, students are asked to give anonymous feedback on what is working and what has been challenging in the class. Themes and follow up next steps from this mid-semester survey are shared with students. See an example here: Example of Student Mid-Semester Survey
-on each written assignment, students are provided both a score from an accompany rubric and written feedback that highlights a strength and an area to work on.
Assessment of Student Learning
Assessment of Student Learning
Course Student Learning Outcomes
Upon completion of this course focused on school-aged children, students will be able to:
· understand major concepts and growth across developmental domains
· describe relevant theories and concepts regarding development
· explain ecological contexts in which development occurs
· use critical thinking to evaluate some of the research on and current issues that affect development
· apply developmental concepts, theories, and research to collect and write about development of school-aged children in a chosen community
· share your thinking, questions, and connections in various formats, including written reflections, whole class and small group discussions, and academic writing
Because student engagement in and application of the material is important, the two major areas of assessment are student participation and showing what has been learned through quizzes and Community Projects.
Challenges
Challenges
A major challenge for this course was creating a classroom environment, activities, and assignments that allowed students to interact with each other and the community in a similar capacity as they do in an in-person class setting. To address these challenges, the following were implented:
Weekly Welcome Questions. To create an online classroom setting that allows students to interact and get to know each other in a personal way, an ice-breaker type question is posted before each Zoom class starts. Students can respond to the question and/or respond to each other.
Participation Questions and Zoom Breakout Rooms. To engage students in active learning, they are asked to respond to participation questions (either in the chat box or verbally) and engage in breakout room discussions with their peers. Participation points are given for the questions and breakout room discussions.
Community Projects. To help students connect their learning to meaningful contexts, they choose a community (i.e., town, city, neighborhood) and a position (e.g., social worker, teacher, parent) to focus on throughout the semester. At the end of each topic (e.g., physical development, trauma & toxic stress), they connect what they have learned to this community and position.
QLT Course Design
QLT Course Design
The Quality Learning & Teaching (QLT) Workshops provided many opportunities and resources to refine and improve online instruction. One area I paid particular attention to refining in this course was student engagement, both with our class Blackboard site and in our class Zoom sessions, as can be seen in these QLT Standards:
-Standard 4.3: Navigation throughout the online components of the course is logical, consistent, and efficient.
-Example of how it was implemented: Weekly Content Folders
Standard 4.4: Learning activities facilitate and support active learning that encourages frequent and ongoing peer-to-peer engagement.
-Example of how it was implemented: Blackboard Breakout Rooms with accompanying Google Docs to track participation
5.8 - Instructor provides reminders of due dates and duration of respective modules, as well as other instructions to keep students on task.
-Example of how it was implemented: "Updates and Due Dates" section on Blackboard home page, with links to announcements and the course calendar (as can be seen in the picture to the left).
Go Virtual Course Design
Go Virtual Course Design
The Go Virtual Institute played a vital role in supporting my transition of teaching classes in-person to teaching in a fully online setting. More specifically, it helped me learn about the many different tools and technologies available to support student learning in an online setting. For example:
-Adobe Spark. I used this program to create visuals for my Blackboard site (as can be seen in the picture to the left).
-Otter.ai. This application can be integrated into Zoom and will transcribe all speaking into a written transcription.
-Zoom. Although I knew the basics of Zoom, I was able to learn engagement strategies (e.g,. playing music before Zoom class session starts to create a warm and inviting setting) and about the different tools and settings (e.g., how to create breakout groups ahead of time).
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