Teaching Others to Teach Others

"Visual Representation of Feedback" by Kyra DeLoach is licensed under CC BY-ND 2.0.

A few weeks ago I ordered the Chibitronics Chibi Lights LED Circuit Stickers STEM Starter Kit for my Adapting Innovative Technologies in Education class. Watching the video of the examples, I was so excited to learn and play around with this tool! After getting comfortable with my innovative technology, I decided I would like to teach others how to use this tool and gain some 21st-century skills at the same time.

For my Innovative Learning Plan (ILP), I focused on teaching this technology to my two coworkers. If I showed them how to use this technology and get creative while collaborating and communicating, they could also demonstrate this to our student staff and give them a chance to exercise those same skills.

Kyra DeLoach - CEP 811 - Innovative Learning Plan Template.odt

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After mapping out my ILP, I got feedback from two of my colleagues in my class. The feedback was positive and helpful! They filled in some blanks I missed and gave me a new way of seeing things. Seeing things through a different lens is so important to create a full experience for learners.

Colleague #1 reminded me to put what my role would be during the lesson plan. This is something I have always struggled with. “What will you be doing while they work?” At the moment, I had no clue! It wasn’t something I had even thought about how I could encourage and support them during their individual learning time. This is something I added first. Although my role could change as I see fit, I needed a baseline in case someone else had to teach this lesson so they would know their role.

Colleague #1 also recommended that I do ‘a hands-on demonstration’ as well as the video I'm planning on doing. I considered this, but I decided that I think the video, the instructions, and the availability during work time would be enough to support my students. An article by Shakhnoza Mansurovna Khodjayeva talks about the effectiveness of using videos in the classroom. This validated my reasoning for not making this edit to my lesson as it talks about videos ‘visual and auditory nature appeals to a wide audience and allows each user to process information in a way that’s natural to them.’ (Khodjayeva 2022)

Colleague #2 gave me a perspective from a student with visual impairments and mentioned some accessibility for hearing impairments as well. This feedback was very important to me because I want this project to be as inclusive as I can to any students that may want to learn from this. I found out some of the things I had decided were accessible, but I made a few changes to better serve my audience.

While I had planned on showing a video demonstration, I made sure to clarify that it will have clear audio, and subtitles to help everyone understand. I will provide instructions, but I changed it to have an online option too – both will include clear, large, and bold text. Additionally, I will add an option to use a marker to draft drawings instead of a pencil to make things clearer for limited sight – creating & viewing. I will be assessing students by their understanding of circuits, so letting learners present orally gives students with visual impairments the option to do so. Additionally, I created a rubric to help me assess presentations.

Circuit Drawing Presentation Rubric.pdf

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It can be hard to put yourself in someone else’s shoes, so collaboration is so important to pick up the pieces and fill in the blanks. Empathy for others plays a pivotal role in creating accessible experiences. I am hopeful that I can continue to receive feedback in all I do so that I can create the best possible experiences for my learners.

Reference

Shakhnoza Mansurovna Khodjayeva. (2022). The effectiveness of using videos in the classroom. Science and Education, 3(5), 1215–1217.