Occupational Education

The XML Application Development Course attracts students seeking the Web Development CCL. Beyond learning XML fundamentals, students will be challenged to participate in the development of a real-world XML client server application. To accomplish this, students will be required to login to a virtual environment provided by NetLab+. Upon doing so they will be presented with labs that not only require them to showcase their understanding of XML, but also provide an exploration into Client Server TCP/IP Socket interaction and the Linux operating system.

In my hybrid course, more time  is needed to ensure that students have time to practive oral presentations, to receive peer feedback, and to get peer reviews on written asssignments.  Initially, I would explain the assignment in-class and students would submit it online.  If we had time, we would share briefly (2-3 minutes per student).  The results were rushed work with only average results. 

Objective:  To help students understand the process of determining filing status' for tax payer clients in various given scenarios. Students struggled to determine filing status and the number of exemptions clients may claim.

Using Canvas Discussions is a good way to use higher order thinking skills and improve communication as our students justify their answers and question others. In Fall 2013, all three of my hybrid classes had weekly discussions that enriched our content. However, the quality of the discussions was somewhat lacking. Mid semester, I instituted rubrics to help guide and measure their posts. For a 15 point discussion, the rubrics were as follows:

The first project in my EDU classes each semester is a student investigation into a hot topic in the education field. Students must submit a Ppt and then present on the topic, using the Ppt as their audio-visual aide. Their grade is a combination of assessing their presentation and their hard-copy Ppts. To grade their hard copies, I use a Ppt Rubric (see attachmed). Historically the lowest score on the rubric has been "References" where they must accurately cite at least two credible references. The average score on this has been 2.0 out of 5 points.

Tallow sculpturing is a culinary expression of food art dating back to the 18th century. This is a medium of food artistry which is mostly classified as one of the lost arts in the culinary profession.

Objective:  To assist students better understand the process of determining filing status' for tax payer clients in various given scenarios. Students seem to struggle determining filing status and the number of personal exemptions clients may claim.

The purpose of this assessment is to allow students to use their own personal experience to bring the concept to a situation in which they can relate.  It’s my theory that If they can relate themselves to the concept, they can better understand how to make the decisions for others. 

Having read about the "Flipped Method" of instruction, and feeling it particularly applicable for hybrid classes, I solicited an honors student, for her project, to help create a flipped lesson for a course competency. Prior to start of class, students:

• Viewed a Ppt of key points with voice-over embedding.
• Filled out a note sheet as they went through the Ppt. This was their Ticket in the door for the next class.

In-class activities:

Business students have expressed difficulty understanding the accounting rules regarding debits (DRs) and credits (CRs) .  Therefore, during Fall 12, ACC111 class,  one of the honor students to created, for their honors project, a 3 min video presenting the 7 rules of DRs & Crs.   By creating the short video, students would:

a)display their understanding of the 7 rules of DRs & CRs;

b)learn a new skill (e.g. how to create a short and simple video about a comlicated topic);

The Social, Civic, and Global Responsibility assignment was given to my EDU222 hybrid course, with disappointing results. The average score was a 10.6 out of 15 (71%). Knowing that I would be giving the same assignment to my EDU230 hybrid course, I consulted with others who had better results. This led to the creation of the following guides that students were mandated to use and attach to their final paper:

Using a SAAC EZ form completed during spring '12,  this CAT documents improvements based upon suggestions in the original document (see attachment).   For Fall '12, the grading rubric was revised, group formation was made earlier, and a group contract was added to the project based upon the document provided by a finished CAT titled "Increasing Group Accountability with a Contract".  Results: 

Students were asked to research, analyze, and explain the role of inclusion in today’s K-12 setting.  A detailed guide was provided to students in addition to the SCGR rubric.

Steps:  1. Online EDU222 were given a PP to build background and a number of related articles to review. F2F students participated in whole-class, interactive lesson on various SpecialEd programs 2. F2F rubric and assignment guide discussed in detail  3.  Student research- 1 day in-class 4. Submit to Writing Center 4. Implement feedback and submit to BB

Students were asked to research, analyze, and explain a controversial issue in today’s K-12 . Students were given 5 topics to choose from ranging from the rights of illegal immigrants to higher education to the inequality of resources between low SES schools in more affluent schools.

Gugel

Students in EDU 230 questioned the extent to which discrimination exists at EMCC. They unanimously suggested this should be investigated. The author facilitated the process which included: survey creation, research into discrimination on college campuses, applying for Institutional Review Board (IRB) approval (and receiving it), and applying for the Student Conference (coincidentally about a month from the start of the project) and being accepted. Students went through ethical research (CITI) training.