Before I could start developing my online teaching module, I first needed to decide on what topic that I wanted to focus on. This was a tough decision for me as I was unsure whether I wanted to try something new or stick with content that I already know really well. I had thoughts about developing a module geared towards teacher professional development since I could use this resource with my Chrome Squad initiative that I've started at my school. However, I decided to work on creating a Chemistry Bootcamp module instead that I can use in September with all three of my classes that I will be teaching (Grade 12 and IB SL/HL Chemistry).
The Chemistry Bootcamp module will be a self-paced module for students to prepare and review fundamental skills necessary to have a successful semester/year in chemistry. This will include chemical nomenclature, balancing equations, significant digits, calculations, stoichiometry, and safety in the chemistry laboratory. The entire course would be designed to run over an entire week, so I will narrow my focus down for this class since our goal is to design a module that is only approximately 2 hours in length. Thus, I will be developing the chemical nomenclature module of the course only for EDUC5199G although I plan to have the entire course completed and ready to go for September as well.
Reflecting on my decision, I hope that I have made an appropriate choice for this task. I am slightly concerned that my colleagues in the course who will be piloting and testing my module will struggle with the content since it is highly specific and rather technical. However, my students also struggle with nomenclature so I think that this concern is also a good challenge in making the content more accessible and easier to comprehend. I've had some thoughts already about how I'm going to approach this challenge. In my last course with Rob, I wrote a book chapter on retrieval practice and I want to incorporate those principles and test them out in this module (Johnson, 2018). I also want to include collaborative aspects in the design of the activities to build community in my online classroom.
The Chemistry Bootcamp module will be a self-paced module for students to prepare and review fundamental skills necessary to have a successful semester/year in chemistry. This will include chemical nomenclature, balancing equations, significant digits, calculations, stoichiometry, and safety in the chemistry laboratory. The entire course would be designed to run over an entire week, so I will narrow my focus down for this class since our goal is to design a module that is only approximately 2 hours in length. Thus, I will be developing the chemical nomenclature module of the course only for EDUC5199G although I plan to have the entire course completed and ready to go for September as well.
Reflecting on my decision, I hope that I have made an appropriate choice for this task. I am slightly concerned that my colleagues in the course who will be piloting and testing my module will struggle with the content since it is highly specific and rather technical. However, my students also struggle with nomenclature so I think that this concern is also a good challenge in making the content more accessible and easier to comprehend. I've had some thoughts already about how I'm going to approach this challenge. In my last course with Rob, I wrote a book chapter on retrieval practice and I want to incorporate those principles and test them out in this module (Johnson, 2018). I also want to include collaborative aspects in the design of the activities to build community in my online classroom.
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