Act+1

**ASSIGNMENT COVER SHEET ** =Learner: Liliana Ware = =THIS FORM MUST BE COMPLETELY FILLED IN =
 * NORTHCENTRAL UNIVERSITY **


 * Please Follow These Procedures: **If requested by your mentor, use an assignment cover sheet as the first page of the **word processor** file. The assignment header should include the Learner’s last name, first initial, course code, dash, and assignment number (DoeJXXX0000-1) justified to the left and the page number justified to the right.
 * Keep a Photocopy or Electronic Copy of Your Assignments: **You may need to re-submit assignments if your mentor has indicated that you may or must do so.
 * Academic Integrity: **All work submitted in each course must be the Learner’s own. This includes all assignments, exams, term papers, and other projects required by the faculty mentor. The known submission of another person’s work represented as that of the Learner’s without properly citing the source of the work will be considered plagiarism and will result in an unsatisfactory grade for the work submitted or for the entire course, and may result in academic dismissal.
 * **EL7003 ** || **Dr. Glen Gatin ** ||||  ||
 * Educational Research Methodology || **1 – Authentic Learning ** ||||  ||
 * ****
 * ****

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';"><Faculty comments here> <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';"><Faculty Name> <Grade Earned> <Writing Score> <Date Graded>
 * Hello Dr. Gatin,**
 * I’m sorry it’s taken so long for me to get started in the assignments. I hope the submission of this paper meets the requirements. I’m taking baby steps toward using other formats. Thanks for all your guidance earlier.**
 * Please let me know if I need to do anything more with this assignment.**
 * Thanks,**
 * Liliana Ware** || ||
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';">Faculty Use Only **
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';">Faculty Use Only **

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">Herrington, Oliver, and Reeves (2002) write about constructivist educational philosophy and the characteristics of authentic learning activities. This philosophy emphasizes on making learning a more wholesome occurrence when teachers prepare their classes. The four characteristics I chose are explained below. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">The exercise where I would like to apply the four characteristics of authentic activities is in the creation of an orientation for Spanish-speaking parents of first-generation college students. This orientation would be voluntary. It would start four weeks before the beginning of the semester. One session/lesson would be released every week and would remain available until the end of the semester. Each session would be half an hour long and the sessions would be interactive with a chance for parents to discuss the content presented with their child. At the end of the each session there would be contact information to reach someone at the college to answer any of their questions. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">Learning experiences anchored in real-world situations offer a better context for learning. Rather than presenting material in a vacuum, students will attach more meaning to their experience if the learning is framed with concepts that add significance to the students’ knowledge and experiential framework. Even more weight is given to learning that students know or perceive will be used later in the real world. This concept is in some way similar to situations when we meet people. In general, people better remember those who have something in common with them, say the same hobby, college, car type, or language spoken, to mention a few examples. There are better chances to make connections with those who share mutual characteristics with them because it means something to them; it has relevance. Duschatel (1997) in Oliver, ( (n.d.)) tells us that the content should be presented in a way that authentic examples and contexts are presented. Such examples will be more relevant to students. Constructivist learning settings offer “various perspectives within meaningful contexts (Oliver, 2002, pg. 3)”. Therefore, teachers ought to aim for building meaning instead of the plain memorization of facts. It will be important to include in the activity the reasons for learning and a framework that offers autonomy and relatedness (Lebow, 1993 in Oliver), such characteristics will aid in giving the students real-world relevance. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">In the activity of an orientation for Spanish-speaking parents, real-world relevance is demonstrated by the fact that their children are going to college, it is an experience they are going truth. The different steps students and their parents must take to be prepared for college life is now part of their life, it is no longer something in the future, it is no longer something they simply talk about, it is not something their friends or neighbors doing – they have stepped on board, and they better learn how to navigate this ship. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">Effective activities are designed to take place over a period of time, not in a single session. It is important to extend activities beyond one day so as to reinforce the learning process. Behavioral theory, in a way, expresses a similar idea by the fact that their followers believe in breaking down the skills and information in smaller units (University of Huston, 2012), therefore we can also say that, for more complex concepts, breaking these into smaller ideas is beneficial in retaining knowledge. An activity sustained over a period of time builds on previous material, making learning firmer. This “step-by-step” type of learning brings to mind the way a construction is erected. Similarly to a scaffold (Herrington et al.), which is the tool that provides support to a construction, so do authentic activities, they provide support to the learning. As knowledge is built and stable, then the scaffold can be removed – and the students can fend for themselves. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">As mentioned earlier, the orientation for Spanish-speaking parents of first-generation college students would take place over the duration of four weeks longer than the semester. Each week a session with new information would be released on the web. The first sessions would introduce basic information about being a student at the college level; subsequent sessions would incorporate concepts that would have been learned in previous sessions without having to repeat their definitions. The assumption is that those concepts have already been explained and therefore are part of their knowledge. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">In this particular activity, we would have introduced the concept of an ID number and a class schedule, for example, in the first session. Succeeding sessions would use these concepts with the assumption that parents are already familiar with the terms being used. Concepts about college education would be used over a period of time to reinforce the learning. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">Contrary to the rigid and old-fashioned teaching of grammatical rules and multiplication tables for example, authentic activities offer a variety of perspectives. Grammar and math can still be taught in an efficient way by using authentic activities, by presenting the information from different angles and not dictating one single “correct” viewpoint. The fact that students are offered different perspectives to add to their body of knowledge constitutes a great exercise of their analytical skills. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">In addition to variety in the presentation of the view points, Johanssen & Tessmer (1996) in Oliver ( (n.d.)) advise that online settings use a variety of modes of communication. Online cannot be a replica of a classroom environment, a good online instructor will do more than present flat PowerPoint slides for the entire activities. S/he must provide different “levels” of instruction: videos, blogs, wikis, etc. One very important feature, as well, in online teaching is effective interaction with the material presented. The instructor can create material that the student can respond to immediately or material that offers depth and breadth on the subject. Oliver points out that contemporary thinking suggests that content should be less important in the design process. He states that content should take a less relevant role in the design of online teaching material – this can be a controversial statement. Perhaps it would be better to approach this by saying that content should not be presented in a simple way nor should the complete information be revealed, but rather the lesson should use a variety of modes and leave enough of the content out so that students can examine the material from different perspectives and find answers themselves rather than all the answers being given to them. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">In the activity for this assignment we would explain to the parents that it is important for the student to get to class on time and not to miss school. In order to assist parents find out (and ideally then help their children be punctual and responsible regarding attendance), we would start the next section of this orientation by discussing the student’s class schedule and how important it is to be in regular attendance. We would show the parents different ways to get to class, they can take a map and visualize the location of the classrooms. Or the parents and the student can come to campus and walk around the campus going from one class to another without having to waste time on the first day of class trying to find classrooms.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">Characteristics of Authentic Activities **
 * 1) <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">Authentic activities have real-world relevance
 * 1) <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">Authentic activities comprise complex tasks to be investigated by students over a sustained period of time
 * 1) <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">Authentic activities provide the opportunity for students to examine the task from different perspectives, using a variety of resources

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">Students who have the opportunity to reflect on the material being taught will remember it better. When teachers prepare their lessons, their activities should include time to reflect on the significance of the material, it should not only be a matter of the information entering through their ears, but rather the information dwelling in the students’ brains. Herrington et al. (2002) add that when learning activities are well planned to include collaboration and cooperation, these activities provide reflection. Oliver adds that constructivist learning uses problem-solving activities that are task-based. This type of learning involves open-ended activities with many opportunities for reflection on different possible solutions. Herrington et al. support the use of small groups and small teams, which facilitate the development of higher-order thinking and critical skills. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">Other authors have contributed to what are good learning activities. Collis (2005, in Collis, Foth & Schroeter, 2009) states that students need learn to how to do rather than learn how to listen, they need to learn how to work in multidisciplinary teams rather than in isolation; and that they need to learn how to be engaged contributors in producing knowledge-based resources rather than simply being information gatherers. Franetovic (2012) also studied authentic activities. She conducted a single case study where students designed, co-created and tested a simulation game in a class within authentic learning activities. Although there was individual and group assessment that resembled authentic activities, the experiment showed that there was a need for more authentic assessment methods for virtual world team projects. Anderson (2009) gives us an example of an activity that is authentic, empowering and ongoing. Fourth graders learned how to create a chart that tracks their reading-level development in Excel spreadsheets. They enter their own data and create charts and graphs. They can also explore the formatting skills, like fonts, borders, color, etc. Teachers are no longer deliverers of instruction, but rather they become facilitators of students using technology in an authentic way. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">For the activity in this assignment, we would touch on the number of credits the student would enroll in. This segment would begin with a factual presentation of what it means to be a full-time student versus a part-time student. Then, we would ask if the student plans to work and for how many hours, making note of the number of hours student is expected to dedicate to class work outside the classroom. The purpose of this activity would be to provoke reflection on their personal situation, i.e. how well would the student do when looking at the number of credits enrolled, if s/he would work, and how many hours that would leave for homework. We hope that the information we give to parents and students makes them reflect on a healthy balance between academics and work/family. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">These four characteristics of authentic activities, I feel, are the ones that are the best to use in the activity planned, the orientation for Spanish-speaking parents of first generation students. The activities we would plan offer tremendous relevance to their current circumstances, they would take place over several sessions, not just a one-time occurrence, they would be offered in different formats and make available different perspectives, and they would trigger participants to reflect on the issue. With all these elements placed in the appropriate manner, this orientation would be a valuable tool to teach parents about college-level education and one more contributor to success.
 * 1) <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">Authentic activities provide the opportunity to reflect

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">References <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">Anderson, M. (2009) Authentic, technology-based activities in the era of NCLB. //Internet@Schools//, Jan/Feb 16, 1: 35-37. Retrieved: <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">[]

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">Anonymous. University of Texas. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">[|http://viking.coe.uh.edu/~ichen/ebook/et-it/behavior.htm]. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;"> Retrieved June 9, 2012 <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">Collins, C., Foth, M., & Schroeter, R. (2009). The Brisbane media map: Participatory design and authentic learning lo link students and industry. //Learning Inquiry//, Dec: 143-155. Retrieved: <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">[] <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">Franetovic, M. (2012). //<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">A higher education case: Millennial experience toward learning in a virtual world designed as an authentic learning environment. //<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">Wayne State University. Retrieved: <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">[] <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">Herrington, J., Oliver, R & Reeves, T. (2004). //Authentic activities and online learning// HERDSA. Retrieved: <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">[]

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">Oliver, R. ( (n.d.)). //Developing online learning environments that support knowledge construction//. Retrieved: <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">[]

media type="custom" key="18648194"