Ideas for resources, activities, support, evaluation

Resources include (a) content, e.g., lectures, textbooks, journal articles, digital media, (b) materials, e.g., chemicals for an experiment, paint and canvas, and (c) tools that students use when working on their activity, e.g., laboratory tools, brushes, calculators, rulers, statistical analysis software, word processing software. When integrating technology resources in teaching, it should be done in a way that leads students to learn with, rather than just learn from these resources.

An activity provides students with an experience where learning occurs in the context of emerging understanding, testing ideas, generalizing and applying knowledge. Resources are elements that student use while completing their activity. The following are two key characteristics of an effective activity:

1.  ‘student-centered’  - It focuses on what students will do to learn, rather than on what students will remember Resources are tools in students’ hands Teachers are facilitators who participate in the process Students produce artifacts that demonstrate their learning progress Students learn about the process Students develop new literacies
2.  ‘authentic’  - It contains real-life scenarios and often ill-defined problems It reassembles professional practice It uses tools specific to professional practice It results in artifacts that demonstrate professional competence, not only knowledge

The following are examples of what an activity may be:

• design project (e.g. design an experiment to test a hypothesis)
• case study
• problem-solving learning task Develop a documentary movie on a specific area of interest (e.g., ethical considerations for GM food pros and cons)
• poster to promote a controversial issue (e.g., Nuclear energy)
• planning a field day for your cohort
• role-play (e.g., defending a perspective)

Outcomes of an activity can be: a conceptual artifact (e.g., an idea or a concept presented in a written report), a hard artifact (e.g., a model of an electric circuit), a soft artifact (e.g., a computer-based creation). Artifacts produced by students should undergo reviews and revisions before final submission and might involve presentations in class or online. These artifacts must be evaluated in various ways so that students can receive timely feedback to reflect upon and take further actions towards more coherent achievement of learning outcomes. Feedback can be given by teachers, peers, and/or invited experts from the community/professions

Support’ provides students with a scaffold while enabling them to develop learning skills and independence. Support can be broadly categorized into pedagogical, administrative and technical. This section focuses on the pedagogical support.

For teachers, ‘Support’ reduces redundancy and workload. Support might anticipate student difficulties, such as understanding an activity, using a tool or working in groups. Teachers can track and record ongoing difficulties and issues that need to be addressed during learning, and share these with students. Three modes of support are possible: teacher-student, student-student, and student-artifact (additional resources). Support can take place in a classroom and in online environments such as through forums, Wikis, Blogs and social networking spaces. Often support can anticipate the needs of students.,

Depending on the course, proactive support structures such as FAQs can be planned and implemented in the light of anticipated needs. The objective of anticipatory support is to ensure students have access to a body or resources when they need support, rather than just being dependent of asking teachers for help. Here are some specific strategies: Build a body of resources and materials which form a FAQ Page Create a "How Do I?" or "Help Me" Forum Create a Glossary of course-related terms Use checklists and rubrics for activities Use other social networking platforms and synchronous tools such as chat and Skype Overall, support should aim to lead students to become more independent learners. Teachers should give frequent, early, positive feedback that supports students' beliefs that they can do well. Students also need rules and parameters for their work. For example, before a student asks a teacher for help, they might first ask their classmates through one of the Forums and/or search the Internet for solutions to their problems.

Evaluation of student learning during the semester is an essential part of effective student-centered learning experiences. The evaluation needs to be formative in order to enable students to constantly improve their learning. An activity should require students to work on tasks, and develop and produce artifacts that evidence their learning. This evidence of student learning enables the teacher to monitor student progress and provide further formative guides to help improve students’ learning achievement. Students need to record their progress in completing the tasks set, so they too can monitor their learning and the improvements they make. Rubrics can be provided to enable students to conduct self-evaluation. Evaluation can also be conducted by peers. Here are few points why evaluation is important to student learning: Offers feedback on work and identifies where students are in their learning Offers opportunities for students to improve their work Enables students to become more effective and motivated learners Helps students become more independent and self-directed learners Putting it together

The following recommendations might be useful to teachers in developing their courses based on RASE. First teachers need to: Ensure that specific course learning outcomes are aligned with overall program learning outcomes Identify courses required to achieve learning outcomes Align assessment, courses and learning outcomes. Once done, developing and facilitating learning can include:

• Describe what to expect and what to do if Support is required
• Explain prerequisites and how to build on previous learning
• Describe an Activity
• Explain the tasks within the activity
• Provide instructions about how to proceed initially
• Describe deliverables (artifacts to be produced), provide templates if any, provide examples of deliverables if any
• Present standards for Evaluation and provide rubrics Provide self-check and peer evaluation forms as required
• Explain support options Resources can include:
• Links to notes, articles and books Presentations, demonstrations and recorded/virtual and real lectures Interactive material in Canvas - conceptual models and other forms of learning objects
• Links to videos Software tools Support tools We also need to specify how formative assessment and feedback will be conducted, so that students have clear reference points for their work.