LU ePortfolio - EDUC 631

McGlynn and Kelly (2020) describe CK-12 as “a NGSS-aligned open-source resource composed of readings found in a ‘flexbook’" (p. 11). It provides a wide range of STEM activities with a mission to provide access to all students (CK-12, 2021b). When looking at the Quality Course Teaching and Instructional Practice (QCTIP) scorecard, the scores are distributed between the three possible ratings: emerging, accomplished, and exemplary (OLC, 2021).

The activities have strengths that lie in the area of the Course Design. The website provides a comprehensive concept map that allows teachers to find related topics that can extend their lessons (CK-12, 2021a). The design is consistent throughout the site, using navigation buttons, adjustable font size, page headers, menus, and a feature that allow you to save particular items to your account for easy future access. The site provides students and teachers with a Learning Management System (LMS), but also provides opportunities to connect CK-12 activities to an outside LMS, such as Google Classroom or Canvas (CK-12, 2021c). This allows teachers to customize the learning for their students and weave CK-12 activities into their own lesson plans to provide student activities that incorporate multiple modalities, as suggested by the ninth principle of the Principles of Learning from Cognitive Science (Nilson & Goodson, 2017). Another strength of this website is that it offers opportunities teachers to provide feedback on activities to ask for assistance as well as to offer suggestions for improvement (CK-12, 2021c). Teachers have the opportunity to create their own content within the system and browse through materials created by other teachers.

The activities provided for the concept of “Time to Quarter, Half-Past and Hour” are interactive in nature and provide various opportunities for students to learn the material (CK-12, 2021c). They can be easily aligned to a Common Core Standard: CCSS.MATH.CONTENT.1.MD.B.3 (Common Core State Standards Initiative, 2021, para. 1). The activities provide options for textbook material (‘flexbook’), instructional videos, PLIX (Play, Learn, Interact, eXplore), and a practice activity (CK-12, 2021c). Nilson and Goodson stated that learning activities must be directly connected to the main course objectives (2017). This lesson does an excellent job of identifying the objectives and providing content that meets those objectives. The only exception to this is the PLIX activity “World Clocks”. Although related to the topic, does not directly match the course objective and appears to be appropriate for a higher grade level than the rest of the activities. The activity does, however, provide an attention-catching introduction to the topic, and provides a non-graded, opening challenge at an advanced level. It would make an excellent whole-group activity to introduce the topic of time.

The CK-12 system, and the telling time lesson, could use improvements in some areas. In the QCTIP area of Accessibility, the time activities that were reviewed did not appear to meet ADA compliance (OLC, 2021). The flexbook materials provide options for students to highlight information and even take notes, however it lacks the ability to be read aloud. A student would need to use a browser extension to access read-aloud technology. The PLIX activity provided had a rather large amount of text to read, but it also lacked a component to allow struggling readers access to an audio version or even the ability to adjust the background/font colors for more readability options (CK-12, 2021c). In the same way, the two videos presented in the lesson lacked the ability to provide closed captioning (CK-12, 2021c). The second video, on “Time to the quarter hour” had a lot of text in the background that provided an outline of the material, but the print was small and it would be more beneficial if it was broken up and transitioned onscreen or across separate pages as the video progressed. The practice activity did provide an option for a printable worksheet (CK-12, 2021c). However, in review of the printed document, it appears to have some formatting issues. For instance, questions were broken up across pages and the arrangement of questions did not use the available space of the page wisely (CK-12, 2021c).

An additional disadvantage of the CK-12 lesson was the navigation to the PLIX activity (CK-12, 2021c). When you select the PLIX activity, it takes you to what is assumed to be another section of the CK-12 website. Then, when the activity is finished, instead of directing you back to the CK-12 lesson, you are taken to a menu of the PLIX activities available in the system. In order to return back to the lesson, you have to take multiple steps and search for your lesson all over again (CK-12, 2021). The creation of a class within the LMS and adding the “assignment” to the class is a quick fix for this issue, however, it makes for awkward navigation outside of the LMS.

Walker et al (2016) emphasized the idea that LMS often includes features that benefit learning while other features might hinder learning. The same can be true of the CK-12 system. Some features appear to be beneficial, while other features will require some adjustment to make them more user friendly for teachers and students. The site offers some amazing interactive activities that could be very beneficial in the classroom. Teachers will find a wide variety of lessons that incorporate a range of modalities to benefit their student’s learning process and can easily be included in a LMS.

References

CK-12, (2021a). Concept Map. CK-12.org. https://www.ck12.org/conceptmap/

CK-12, (2021b). Our Mission. CK-12.org. https://ck12.org/pages/mission/

CK-12, (2021c). Time to Quarter, Half-Past and Hour [interactive content]. CK-12.org. https://www.ck12.org/c/elementary-math-grade-1/time-to-quarter-half-past-and-hour/

Common Core State Standards Initiative, (2021). Grade 1: Measurement & data. Common Core State Standards. http://www.corestandards.org/Math/Content/1/MD/

McGlynn, K., & Kelly, J. (2020). At a distance. Science Scope (Washington, D.C.), 43(9), 10-14.

Nilson, L. B., & Goodson, L. A. (2017). Online teaching at its best: Merging instructional design with teaching and learning research. ProQuest Ebook Central. https://ebookcentral-proquest-com.ezproxy.liberty.edu

OLC, (2021). Quality course teaching & instructional practice: Course fundamentals. Online Learning Consortium. https://onlinelearningconsortium.org/consult/olc-quality-course-teaching-instructional-practice/

Walker, D. S., Lindner, J. R., Murphrey, T. P., & Dooley, K. (2016). Learning management system usage: Perspectives from university instructors. Quarterly Review of Distance Education, 17(2), 41-50,61-63. http://ezproxy.liberty.edu/login?qurl=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.proquest.com%2Fscholarly-journals%2Flearning-management-system-usage-perspectives%2Fdocview%2F1822036036%2Fse-2%3Faccountid%3D12085

Topic	Score
Consistent Course Design is Used	2
Clear structure and course organization is provided with opportunities for students to share in the responsibility for their learning	2
Course design is cohesive and aligns the course objectives, assessments, and activities.	1
Course is designed so that student workload is reasonable and evenly distributed.	2
Content has logical progression and facilitates student interaction/understanding	1
The course is designed to facilitate easy navigation of course content.	1
Course syllabus is learner-centered and sets the tone for learning and engaging the student	NA
Course module or unit outcomes are stated.	2
Course resources are clearly identified and easy to access.	1
Terms and labels are consistent throughout the course shell.	2
Course offers multiple opportunities for students to gain information (for example - due dates are found in Course Content, Course Calendar, Assignment Listing).	NA
Textbooks/eBooks/Online Tools work seamlessly with LMS.	2
Course is fully prepared and available to students by the first day of the term.	NA

Topic	Score
Course Accessibility is addressed (i.e. videos are captioned, use of color is ADA appropriate, other visual elements meet ADA standards, etc.).	0
Course design adheres to universal design standards.	1

Topic	Score
Instructor continuously evaluates the effectiveness and content of their online course.	NA
Instructor frequently reviews course design.	NA
Student feedback (for course improvement) is encouraged and requested.	2
An anonymous course survey is available to encourage student feedback.	NA
Instructor provides opportunities for reflection at the end of course (for course improvement).	NA

Evaluating Digital Content

References