I am Anna Maria Mulliri
I am Italian
I live in Macomer (Nuoro) in Sardinia
 I teach English in Gavoi (Nuoro), a small village in the mountains
I teach at a high secondary school whose main vocational subjects are Business and Administrative studies,  Finance and Marketing
I have always believed just that I landed the best job ever

Is your classroom set up to be flexible and interactive, like the one shown in the video? Without necessarily having access to flexible classroom furniture, has the video inspired you to make your classroom environment more collaboration-friendly? What about the technology and online tools used by the students? Have you used these with your students and have they effectively facilitated collaborative learning?

However, presentation softwares, desk research as far as marketing is concerned, creating treasure hunts are really appreciated by students. Digital tools are important because students feel confident with them rather than with books. According to the student’s Lea

rning Style, digital tools can become a resource rather than obstacle though they can’t be used for all activities.

I have also realized that students are very good at using digital tools, they get lots of information but they need to improve their critical attitude, to distinguish between fake news or real news for example. That’s why I think collaborative learning is useful because searching information in the wide world web, sharing opinions and ideas in group and debating them will be helpful to make them more aware.

I agree with the idea that Technology becomes useful especially when collaborative practices are used because it’s a common and familiar language for them, and they feel more engaged in a project if digital tools are used 

In this video an English language teacher explains her experience of carrying out collaborative learning with 14-19 year olds through a project-based approach and various online tools. She explains the challenges she has faced and offers some solutions and pertinent questions for us to reflect on.

Therefore, learning should be student-focused, not content-focused. This means that when planning for instruction I must consider how my students learn and what methods I can use to facilitate learning, I have never heard about the apps proposed by Anna Laghigna, but I would try them. I think that students need to be offered chances to solve problems and to work with other students to find solutions to problems. Collaborative Learning gives them the opportunity to solve problems and positive skills in a mutual interaction like listening to others, formulating opinion, being accountable and responsible.

Students learn more easily and readily from a peer or a group of peers as well as they assess their presentations better than me. However, both group final report and individual activities should be assessed, not only content but also their engagement and efforts, their accountability and creativity, their being effective.

It is also difficult to guarantee the quality of collaboration that takes place between my students because of their different level of knowledge, skills and abilities, they can be more competitive or less, more accountable or less, more responsible or less but, as it was said in the first video of Module 1, the teacher is a facilitator. Therefore, we can give tools and tips on how to work in a group or ensure group is clear on procedure.

There will always be a student eager to learn and others who won’t mind what you say or do, that’s why when it comes assessment, it should be for both individual work, so that you can take into account the individual efforts of each, and group work.

Answer 1.6 High Level of collaboration: Marketing a Product

My senior students of a Technical Economic Institute planned a business model to promote the activities of their territory rich of ancient traditions, astonishing environment and pastoral activities as well as the production of typical pecorino cheese in order to preserve them and to make business in these sectors cost-effective.

The basic idea was to create a platform that allowed producers and consumers to connect to it, interact with each other and create an exchange value.

This activity required a high level of collaboration because each group chose a product or a service to be promoted. Therefore, they learnt about Marketing theories and actions related to it, like writing questionnaires for field research purposes, focusing on the segments of a potential market, advertising a product etc.) but they also developed a digital tool to promote a product or service, improved their business communication skills as well as their decision making. 

Students in the first year were asked to make a distinction between tales and history. Groups looked for materials for exploring myths about the Pilgrims, the Indians, the Mayflower, and the First Thanksgiving in  http://www.scholastic.com/scholastic_thanksgiving . 

Then, they were asked to explore the site http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/mayflower-departs-england / and to gather information about the historical events.

After answering a questionnaire, they decided which information referred to myths or to history.

Then each group presented their works with Power Point.

This video is part of the Creative Use of Tablets in Schools course on the European Schoolnet Academy and presents young Portuguese pupils' opinions about collaborative learning.
The video has English subtitles.

University of Minho, Creative Classroom Lab Project (2013). CCL GUIDE: LEARNING STORY COLLABORATION - What is the collaboration learning model and how to use it?

Additional Resources
- Davidson, N., & Major, C. H. (2014). Boundary crossings: Cooperative learning, collaborative learning, and problem-based learning. Journal on Excellence in College Teaching, 25 (3&4), pp. 7-55.
- Prince, M., (2004). Does Active Learning Work? A Review of the Research. Journal of Engineering Education, 93 (3), pp. 223–231.
- Jacques, D., & Salmon, G., Routledge (2007). Learning in groups: A handbook for face-to-face and online environments

A true collaboration is hard to achieve and the 4 major questions (Are they working together? Do they have shared responsibility? Are they making substantive decisions? And is their work interdependent?) should be considered as street directions not to get lost along the path of designing learning activities.

I often ask the first two questions, but to tell the truth I hardly ask myself the last ones, I have worked with the cooperative method so far.

However, I really appreciate the new inputs in Collaborative teaching and learning, above all focusing on the students that’s why I would design tailored activities keeping in mind the 4Qs 

The CO-LAB Guidelines for Assessing Collaborative Learning (developed by Doctor Luis Valente, from the University of Minho) is the key reference document for Module 3, and will help you design the assessment aspects of your own collaborative learning lesson plan, which you will be developing through the rest of the course. It is available in the resource section of this module.

Are there special considerations to be taken into account? What about the final question she asks us and our expert to reflect on: do you find it challenging to gauge how best to assess the individual participation of a student in a collaborative activity?

3.2 Answer
I think that Chrysa’s methods were meticulous and fair. A wide range of activities to be assessed in different ways: self-assessment group with questions to reflect on, individual assessment, peer assessment that, I think, can be at least guided with previously agreed criteria. Actually, children are usually spontaneous and truthful, which is a good thing, but they can also be cruel being “too much” spontaneous and truthful.
As far as Chrysa’s questions I think that talking about collaborative learning, not only we assess the individual degree of assimilation and acquisition and the final outcome of collaborative work but we also take into account their approach to learning, their performance and creativity, communication, collaboration and critical thinking. The last elements can be observed while students are working collaboratively and individually but with different approach and final results.

 Discreet assessment can be used as an approach to assess individual participation and performance within collaborative practice when students are not aware that they are being assessed. However, this can raise ethical issues and even if students do not know when they will be "observed" or assessed, they must know that they could be observed and assessed without advance warning

 

Self- and peer assessment are too demanding for some students who are likely to prefer a grade given by the teacher.  To become independent learners is the outcome of a process and, at the end of it, if students understood that assessing the quality of their learning is too important to become independent learners, it would be the best result. 

I totally agree with the evidences of the research and with assigning a percentage weight to individual assessment as part of the summative assessment related to collaborative work. In fact, a summative assessment should consider the role by each students in the group to avoid assertiveness of dominators or idleness.

I found what Dr. Valente suggests very interesting about discreet assessment and especially the solution proposed “they must know that they could be observed and assessed without advance warning”

The learning activity of this module (Module 3) enjoins you to start working on one or more lesson plans integrating collaborative learning and assessment, which you intend to use with your students in the classroom.

If you haven't done so yet, we also suggest that you share your Learning Designer lesson plan link with other participants:

1. The lesson plan includes learning activities specifically designed to develop students’ collaborative learning skills. For example, at least two of the following criteria are included (see Module 2 videos and resources – i.e. the 21CLD rubric and the example learning scenarios – for further information and inspiration):

It is essential that the nature of the collaborative activities is fully described in the lesson plan, and clearly refers to one or more of the four dimensions mentioned above.

2. The lesson plan incorporates appropriate assessment tools to assess the collaborative learning activities mentioned, preferably including the student in the design of at least one of the tools. For example, one or more of the following are included as assessment tools (see Module 3 videos and resources – i.e. the CO-LAB Guidelines for Assessing Collaborative Learning in the Classroom – for further information and inspiration):

3. The lesson plan is well aligned with its learning outcomes: activities and assessment clearly link with the defined learning outcomes and allow the teacher to determine by the end of the lesson(s) if the objectives have been achieved.

4. The lesson plan is balanced: there is a good mix of activities with at least four different Teaching Learning Activities used (TLAs in the Learning Designer) and none of the Activities, except in the case of collaboration, taking up more than 35% of the time (see the pie chart for this).

Luís Valente, Instituto de Educação, Universidade do Minho, CO-LAB Project (2016). CO-LAB Guidelines for Assessing Collaborative Learning in the Classroom

The guidelines include:

Luís Valente & Maria João Gomes, Instituto de Educação, Universidade do Minho, Creative Classroom Lab Project (2014). COLLABORATION & ASSESEMENT: THEORY AND PRACTICE - 

In this video we hear about a Bulgarian teacher’s experience of collaborating with other teachers to teach young children aged between 7 and 11 years old. She describes her experience of teacher collaboration within eTwinning and Erasmus+ projects. We hear about the ‘co-teaching rotation’ model of collaboration she has worked with, and the benefits of this approach.

I agree with Valentina about sharing practices and showing best practices though it’s not easy finding time to meet colleagues after schools apart from institutional meetings. 

Nevertheless, I have experienced collaborative designing lesson plans and though it mainly deals with theory, I can say that the more open minded and willing to accept suggestions you are, the better you are at improving and innovating. Constructive criticism is always necessary to manage the change that is inevitable.

In this video we hear about a secondary school language teacher’s varied experience of teacher collaboration, and the specific benefits digital technologies can bring to facilitate the process. Reyhan describes the importance of collaborating with teachers and experts beyond your school to create new ideas and exchange best practices.

Unfortunately, I must admit that many teachers do not realize that, as with any new tool, they can become proficient enough so that it becomes the easiest thing to use it, other fears for pupils’ safety or class management. I think that if we adopt classroom technology, we also make sure that the activity serves our learning objectives.

I usually use Facebook, after the eTwinning project I gave up Twitter and Linkedin, because I felt as sucked into a parallel universe.

Thanks to Facebook I can share documents and ideas, I can plan and organize with some of my colleagues (I have just finished to talk with three of them) and I really appreciate this tool because we live in different places, we are all commuters and when we meet at school most of the work is already done.

I was not so familiar with emerging digital technologies, but during the course I have started using those suggested by Anna Laghigna and the other colleagues.

In this video Professor Deirdre Butler discusses the various benefits of teacher collaboration including the usefulness of peer reviews, collaborating in a safe environment, and building an effective community of practice. She also highlights some of the challenges involved and the need to find opportunities for collaboration both inside and outside of school, and for collaboration to take place across subjects and themes.

Being part of an educational community supposedly has the same objective to achieve perhaps through collaborative teaching and learning.

There are many challenges to reach the top: burocracy, lack of time, lack of technical support or digital devices, demotivated students, brilliant lesson plans and projects, but much is only on paper, the reality is completely different. And when I am ready to give up, I can’t but think of the traditional saying “necessity is the mother of invention”.  Step by step, those problems who depend on me and my colleagues can be solved, but the will to do things together and to solve problems are not enough. However, when good results come, we say that it was worth trying new strategies, new methodologies together with our students. 

I often collaborate across themes relevant to the whole school. We choose cross-cutting topics and key competences, I usually work with teachers of the vocational area. We focus on the students we are going to work with and we ask them if they are interested in those topics and their suggestions. We usually include a school trip at the end of the project which is a way of mutually sharing information and experiences, of assessing key competences, of seeing in action the future citizens striving to achieve their independence.

Time flies… and our last course week is almost over!
How is this module going?

Here is our Question of the Week #4

How do you integrate formative assessment in your teaching practice?
Which tools do you find more useful?
Checklists
Reports
Online quizzes
Self-evaluation rubrics
Peer reviews
Others
If you use rubrics, do you create your own rubrics? If so, please post any example here.
Please leave a comment under this thread
Keep well
Anna

Anna Maria Mulliri We spent a lot of time in devising a rubric for the first two years period, for the second two years period and for the last year in the same subject group (Dipartimento ). And at the end of some project such as "A trip on my own" where they are supposed to organize a 5-days- holiday in a European Town, students add to their work on Emaze or Strikingly. But also Checklist when they are working on the project.

In this video a teacher trainer at Maynooth University explains the skills required by teachers to work collaboratively, as well as the conditions needed for teacher collaboration in the school environment. She also discusses the importance of leadership and how we might address sceptical teachers.

Unfortunately, the leadership in my current school doesn’t model collaboration with, most of the time, the result of a mere formal repetition of useless meetings with no clear common goals to achieve. I found a true work group when planning with my colleagues of my school which is 30 km from the main Institution. A favourable environment which is involving, even the young teachers get easily involved and since they feel part of a group they are willing to share ideas and new tools. However, there are also sceptical teachers whose refrain is “What? Students? They are not students, they are arms stolen from agriculture” but we must profit of their help in practical activities and of their time and they are happy when the see our students outcomes.

In this video we hear from Professor Deirdre Butler and Majella Dempsey (a teacher trainer from Maynooth University) about how technology can facilitate teachers working together. We hear about the usefulness of various communication platforms and MOOCs, as well as the need to move away from an understanding of teacher collaboration just being about sending and displaying, to one that is more about processing, analyzing and sharing.

Embracing a Digital Learning Ecosystem Districtwide

Answering Students’ and Educators’ Needs

"Our students were clear that they wanted a platform that was simple to use on any device and powerful enough to be fully adopted by all faculty so that there would be just one LMS for all of their courses and activities. We selected Schoology because of its intuitive learner-centric design, its ability to support our traditional and new teaching methods, and its strong integration capabilities."

In this video teachers from Ireland discuss their experience of collaborating with teachers from different schools across Ireland during a CO-LAB workshop. They talk about the benefits of having a particular time and space dedicated to collaborating, the advantages of working with teachers from different disciplines, and how technology can facilitate the process.

The final learning activity requires you to create and submit a lesson plan and to peer-review other participants' lesson plans. In order for you to receive the Course Badge and the final Digital Certificate, you need to complete both of these tasks.

In order to receive the course certificate, you need to submit your Lesson Plan in this section by 30 October 2017 23:59h CET and to review two Lesson Plans by 8th November 2017 23:59h CET.

In Module 3, you started working on creating one or more lesson plans integrating collaborative learning and assessment. To complete the course, you now have to finalise your lesson plan.

 

Carefully follow the steps below to submit your activity:

In the Course Introduction, sections Getting ready 2 - Set up your Learning Designer account and Getting ready 3 - How to do the peer review, we provide detailed instructions on how to find the link and share your lesson plan, as well as a peer review walkthrough. We strongly recommend that you consult these pages again.

 

Once you submit your final lesson plan, you will receive an email confirming that you have been allocated a number of your peers' lesson plans to review.

You will be notified by email when your own document has received feedback. You will access the feedback on this page.

This “blackout” period is a designated time during which we – the European Schoolnet Academy team – will focus our attention on assessing the work of course participants where needed, dealing with any possible issues (plagiarism, missing final course activities/reviews, technical aspects), and preparing the course certificates.

During this period, the course will not be accessible, but all your work on the course is saved and will become available again at the conclusion of the blackout period.

After the “blackout” period, certificates will be awarded to those who have finalised all required course activities. The course will remain open for those who would like to benefit from the pedagogical content but there will be no moderation on the course, and therefore no certification will be awarded anymore. 

Tan Huynh, Empowering ELLs blog, 2017. Collaborating for ELLs Serie – Teacher Collaboration: www.empoweringells.com/category/collaboration/

European Commission/EACEA/Eurydice, 2015. The Teaching Profession in Europe: Practices, Perceptions, and Policies. Eurydice Report. Luxembourg: Publications Office of the European Union. 

European Commission Joint Research Centre (2015). Teaching Practices in Primary and Secondary Schools in Europe: Insights from Large-Scale Assessments in Education. Luxembourg: Publications Office of the European Union

Ieri alle 0:36 · 

One of the best websites that could be very helpful for teachers.
www.breakingnewsenglish.com
U can teach using those materials for 3 skills R-W-L 
U will see the lesson plan and how to start activities . N.B listening in MP3 form and downloadable , enjoy it 
Good luck

Possiamo costruire mappe aggiungendo sulla carta geografica i punti in cui si articola il nostro itinerario e ogni punto può essere editato aggiungendo testo, link, immagini.

Gli itinerari così realizzati possono essere pubblicati e condivisi in modo estremamente semplice. Si possono anche realizzare percorsi collaborativamente aggiungendo altre persone che ci aiutano a editare il nostro itinerario.

UTILIZZI DIDATTICI

Luca Raina sottolinea alcuni dei possibili scenari didattici:

1. mappare un viaggio storico o geografico o biografico

2. storytelling

3. Clil

Gli usi sono davvero tantissimi:

1. si può documentare un'uscita didattica o un viaggio di istruzione

2. un evento (sportivo, culturale, folcloristico, etc.)

3. rappresentare la trama di un racconto o romanzo o film

4. creare una storymap dato che possiamo anche inserire delle date per ogni punto segnalato sulla mappa

Altro punto di forza di Tripline e che è estremamente semplice da utilizzare, adatto a studenti di tutte le età, dalla primaria alla secondaria. Non richiede particolari competenze informatiche e digitali, si impara rapidamente ad utilizzarlo e rapidamente si realizzano le mappe.

SCHEDA VIDEO

Autore: Luca Raina

Titolo: App per prof #26 TRIPLINE (Itinerari interattivi)

Data Pubblicazione: 12/12/2016

Durata: 5:06