Jigsaw 104: Internship

Post date: Nov 06, 2017 7:48:24 PM

This session was all about using some more advanced features of Jigsaw and integrating everything we've learned so far. The first thing that was discussed was creating a storyboard for your lessons. I'll be the first to admit, I don't do this, at least on paper/digitally.

I usually have an idea in my mind of what I want to do for the lesson, such as, "first I'll discuss important dates and housekeeping information, then I'll introduce the lesson with a video or explanation, and then I'll work out some practice problems. At the end, I'll take questions."

Then, I think about what assets I want to use in the session, "I need to upload the PowerPoint I created with the practice problems written out. Then, I had that graphic I wanted to explain. I'd like to do that big, so I'll add it as an image in the whiteboard. Then, in case something doesn't go well, I'll add a video of me working out the practice problems so I can show that just in case." Then, I load all these assets into Jigsaw and open my session to make sure they are showing up the way I want them to.

And then I'll write out (on paper) the things I want to mention by writing on the whiteboard. I also work out the practice problems on paper ahead of time so I've got them ready to go and don't have to mess with typing things into the calculator during the session, if I can help it. I do all of this in a notebook I keep for working out problems within the course or for jigsaw sessions, since I am not one of those folks that can work physics problems in their head. I HAVE to write it out!

Then, I do the session.

I rarely use quizzes or polls because attendance at my live sessions tends to fluctuate around zero, and oh, zero.

If I were to write out a storyboard for this, it would look something like this:

I will admit that I wrote this storyboard based on a lesson I did early in the semester that I knew used 3 panes. Using 3 panes didn't really work with my plan for the next few lessons, and it is more important to me to spend my hour with the students (even if they are just using the recording), doing something I think is beneficial for them than simply doing something to do it. For the housekeeping information, I usually write that out like this:

And my work for the practice problems tends to look a lot like this:

Notice I label the slide, so I can quickly make sure I'm working out/looking at the correct problem. This is important on weeks like the one above, where the practice problems all look very similar, with very tiny differences.

Some important information about the video below. The whole 1D Kinematics lesson is provided, but in case you don't want to watch an hour-long video on physics (I don't blame you, really, I don't), here are the important points:

• 1. From 0:00 - 3:00 I discuss housekeeping information. You'll notice the text is VERY small. As I mentioned above, this recording is from early in the semester, before I knew how TINY the text in the notes section actually is. If I were to re-record this same lesson, I would use the whiteboard pane to write this portion. In my storyboard above, I wrote it as if I was using the whiteboard pane, because I knew that this notes section isn't particularly useful in its current format (being unable to adjust the text size).

  2. From 3:16 - 5:24 the video I uploaded plays. I chose this video because we were going to be discussing the difference between SPEED and VELOCITY in this session and I thought the cute video would be a good way to hook or engage my students. No one attended live, so I wasn't able to gauge this. But when I taught in the face-to-face classroom, the video would get their attention.

  3. From 5:39 - end of the video, I work out a variety of practice problems. Each week, I try to work out at least one of each "type" of problem for my students. That way, they can refer to the video of me walking them through the problems if they get stuck.

I would change a few things about the lesson above. Since it was at the beginning of the semester, I've already changed a few things, especially:

• 1. The notes pane. I NEVER use this pane anymore for notes. It displays WAY too small for students to see, especially in the low quality of a recording. I have switched to the whiteboard pane for this type of information. That way I can write as large as I want and it shows up MUCH better in the recording.

  2. I have switched to a black background for working out problems. This was suggested in my Advanced TOOL group and makes the colors stand out much better.

  3. I would love to implement little "check" quizzes here and there, but until I can get some consistent attendance, it doesn't really make a lot of sense to spend time creating a bunch of questions to give no one. I think that could make the session more interactive. Although, just having students attend live would make it more interactive too :)

I think my students appreciate when I work out the problems. Unless they watch the recording within a day or so, the housekeeping information could be of little use to them, but I still like to include it just in case. I'm not sure "enjoy" is a good word to use, because I don't know many students that "enjoy" working out practice problems, but most of them know that they need to do this in order to understand the material well enough to earn a decent grade in the course.

And my attendance check: