"The most important thing that schools can do is not to use technology in the curriculum more, but to use it more effectively."
John G. Palfrey and Urs Gasser
www.geckoandfly.com
Usability Testing
In this point of my implementation of my blended learning course, students have been able to explore and participate in Modules 1 and 2. Before having my learners continue in their process, it is important for me to evaluate the practices, organization, resources, and activities that have been put in place so that I can make necessary adjustments. Bates (2022) teaches us that a fundamental part of the teaching and learning process is to assess what has been done and look for ways to improve it. Here, you will be able to explore my reflections on my process in testing usability in my blended learning course for second graders.
Who Should Participate?
This course is built for the students in my second grade class. Since these students are my audience, it was important that I gather feedback from them to ensure that the content and assignments were accessible for their learning. When evaluating what worked and what didn't, we should be looking at factors that have influenced the students' ability to learn (Bates, 2022). This highlights another reason why my participants of the usability testing must be my students.
Our LMS
Our school uses Schoology as the provided learning management system, LMS. This impacted my testing by ensuring navigation and organizational issues were reflected on. The setup of each LMS varies and understanding ways to use organizational resources within our given LMS is important to consider.
Lessons Learned
I created a Google Form for my students to use as a tool to communicate their information about their experiences with me. This was a way for them to independently reflect on their experience in participating in the course over two weeks. Since my students are in second grade and my time to work with them on this project was limited due to my work expectations, I did not have them screen record any of their experiences with the platform. I was able to sit with them and go over their feedback with them so they could elaborate on any responses. Below are some of the responses I received from the Google Form. My students were able to navigate the platform easily, understand how to progress through the modules using their playlist, but seem to need more clarity when being provided with the directions of assignments.
Not only was I able to reflect on the feedback from their forms, but I was able to evaluate their assignments and decide that I need to include models of completed assignments so that they can have a clear visual of what the expectations are. The products of their learning were very basic and not completed to the level I had envisioned.
In this discussion board shown above, students were to discuss a book they have just read and share an alternate resolution to the conflict. It is clear that I also need to set clear expectations on discussion board etiquette to ensure we have productive communication between students. Since my students are such young learners, explicit modeling and consistent practice will help ensure they are successful in the future with assignments they might feel won't be looked at by others. I've learned that they often feel that what's digital won't be looked at the same as what is physically turned in, like a paper copy.
Moving Forward
After reflecting on the data from my usability testing experience, I have added another resource in the Start Here module that explains Discussion Board Etiquette. I will be sure to refer to this at the beginning of every discussion assignment so my students are constantly reminded about their expectations.
Going forward, I also will include an exemplar for specific assignments so students have a visual to refer to when completing their tasks. Although their assignment does not have to match the style or method, they will be able to see what should be included in a clear way.
References
Bates, A.W. (2022). Teaching in a Digital Age: Guidelines for designing teaching and Learning. https://pressbooks.pub/teachinginadigitalagev3m/chapter/section-2-4-does-technology-change-the-nature-of-knowledge/