Setting Up a Google+ Account

Sarah Miller 03/26/2012 EdTech 503, Jennifer Freed

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Table of Contents Reflective Synthesis Paper ........................................................................................................................ 4

Part 1 – Topic .............................................................................................................................................. 6

Part 1a – Stated Learning Goal ............................................................................................................. 6

Part 1b – Description of the Audience ................................................................................................ 6

Part 1c – Rationale .................................................................................................................................. 6

Part 2. Analysis Report .............................................................................................................................. 7

Part 2a – Description of the Need ........................................................................................................ 7

Part 2a.1 – Needs Analysis Survey .................................................................................................. 7

Part 2a.2 – Needs Analysis Survey Results Report ....................................................................... 8

Part 2b – Description of the Learning Context ................................................................................... 9

Part 2b.1 – Learning Context ............................................................................................................ 9

Part 2b.2 – Transfer Context ........................................................................................................... 11

Part 2c – Description of the Learners ................................................................................................ 12

Part 2d - Learning task analysis ......................................................................................................... 14

Part 3 – Planning ...................................................................................................................................... 24

Part 3a – Learning Objectives ............................................................................................................. 24

Part 3b – Matrix of Objectives, Bloom's Taxonomy, and Assessments. ....................................... 26

Part 3c – ARCS Table ........................................................................................................................... 29

Part 4 – Instructor Guide ......................................................................................................................... 31

Part 5 – Learner Content ......................................................................................................................... 35

Part 5a. Learning Materials ..................................................................................................................... 35

Part 5b. Formative and/ or Summative Assessment Materials ...................................................... 40

Part 5c. Technology Tool Justification ............................................................................................... 41

Part 6 – Formative Evaluation Plan ....................................................................................................... 41

Part 6a – Expert Review ...................................................................................................................... 41

Part 6b – One-to-One Evaluation ....................................................................................................... 42

Part 6c – Small Group Evaluation ...................................................................................................... 43

Part 6d – Field Trial.............................................................................................................................. 43

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Part 7 – Formative Evaluation Report ................................................................................................... 45

Part 7a – Evaluation Survey or Rubric .............................................................................................. 45

Part 7b – Report the Results of the Expert Review .......................................................................... 47

Part 7c – Comments on Change ......................................................................................................... 49

Part 8. AECT Standards Grid ................................................................................................................. 49

Works Cited .............................................................................................................................................. 50

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Reflective Synthesis Paper I have said before that I think instructional design is like magic: like pulling a rabbit out of a hat. As I have progressed through this class, though, I have come to realize that it is more like magic than I thought, but it most closely mirrors the behind-the-scenes process; it resembles the scaffolding holding up the crane suspending the floating object on the magician’s stage. I won’t pretend to really be knowledgeable about what goes on behind the scenes, in order for a magic trick to take place or a beautiful circus act to look effortless, but I think that instructional design is similar.

Experienced teachers can pull a rabbit out of a hat, without 16 weeks of preparation, like we’ve had. The best can make you believe and love that what they are teaching you is one of the most useful pieces of information you will ever learn, seemingly without any effort. At one point in the past, however, they put a lot of work into the framework for that lesson. They considered if their students needed to learn the material, whether they had the equipment needed to teach the lesson, and what strategy or strategies they would employ.

In order to perform a convincing magic trick, one needs to be familiar with the design process necessary to achieve the desired outcome. That’s what we’ve accomplished, this term – we learned how to get from Point A (we want our students to learn X) to just before Point B (today, I’m going to teach a lesson on X). Personally, it has been eye-opening. I thought I had a good idea of what instructional design was and I thought I had worked as an instructional designer at one point. While both of those things still seem true – at least partially - it is also true that I have never received any formal training in instructional design. Right now, even though I’m exhausted and as long as I had access to an appropriate SME, I could design you a lesson on making a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.

In the course of this project, there were a couple of things that I found particularly challenging (and continue to find challenging). The first occurred in the first part of the project: I was not sure exactly how much detail to go into, in developing objectives and creating my flowcharts. For instance, my Goal Statement was comprised of five objectives and at least ten sub-objectives. At the time I thought is that enough? Do I need to break down the sub-objectives into sub-sub-objectives? Later on, I saw how iterative the process of instructional design is. After each phase of the formative evaluation, in an ideal world, I would not only make changes that came out of each stage, but also revise my objectives – change, create or eliminate objectives based on the experiences of my learners, feedback from peers, and my own thought process.

The second part of this process that I found (and continue to find) challenging came during the second part of the project, when we created our instructor guides. My SME Katie said that I had not quite gone into enough detail for an instructor to have to use the guide – that it should

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have include more timeframes and tips for delivery, for example. She said that if I had written the guide for myself, that it would have been enough detail. Having her read through my project actually provided me with a little much-needed clarity on the process. I could return to that part of my project, right now, and flesh out some of the details that she mentioned. Without more specifics, experience or research, however, a lot of that new information would be the product of educated guesswork.

This process has been at times strenuous. However, I’ve been looking forward to this class for months and it is a huge relief to come to the end of it and feel as though I could go out into the world and design instruction. Specifically, the class will provide a good knowledge base as I move into my second instructional design class – Instructional Design for Online Learning. I don’t know exactly how one flows into the other or specifically how either class will influence my chosen career. What I do know is that I need this experience and education in order to do what I feel like I am meant to do in the world.

Once I have completed the MET program, I hope to do a combination of things, including designing online training (obvious use of this new knowledge), teaching online classes, and working as a distance learning administrator of some kind. Ideally, I would like to do this from home, but I would also be content to continue working in the nation’s community or junior colleges.

I am relieved that this class was taught the way that it was. The instructor demonstrated what I thought was really good instructional design by involving us in our learning. Each week we have built part of a lesson plan and many of us will leave with a quality, finished usable product. I was reading through the 1997 article by Constance Mellon, “Goal Analysis: Back to the Basics,” where she describes an experience she had in an early software development class. She spent the first 10 weeks of a 14 week term demonstrating what could be done with multimedia and at the end of the 10th week, she told her students to build a multimedia website. Apparently Constance thought this was a bit daunting of a task to undertake that late in the term. I am glad that this class was not like that.

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Part 1 – Topic

Part 1a – Stated Learning Goal Given prior instruction in ratios and percent and 2 hours of instruction in 4 30-minute sessions, basic math students at a community college will be able to set up a Google+ profile, move people and pages they are interested in "following" into pre-determined circles, and then complete a worksheet based on information from their circles.

Part 1b – Description of the Audience The audience for this lesson will be high school students that have received prior instruction in ratios or percent. This lesson would also be appropriate for first year college students that received prior instruction in ratios and percent, or have recently graduated from high school, where they received instruction in ratios and percent.

Part 1c – Rationale

1. I chose this topic because if they are not, already, students should be familiar with some form of social networking site. Google is a widely used toolbox of applications in education, and if there were a social networking platform that has “buy-in” this seems like a natural choice. It is easy to collaborate with classmates and co-workers using Google Chat or Hangouts, although this lesson will not cover those features.

2. The instruction would be a healthy mix of supplantive and generative instructional approaches (50% Supplantive and 50% Generative, or 60% Supplantive and 40% Generative).

3. The major instructional strategy for this project will be Declarative. 4. The majority of the learning goals for this lesson were declarative. Words like

“define, give, describe, will be able to, and know” were used when the learning goals were written, and those words describe declarative knowledge. Learners will be given some background information on social networking. They will also be provided with some procedural knowledge before being let loose to create a new Google account and sign into Google+.

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Part 2. Analysis Report

Part 2a – Description of the Need

Part 2a.1 – Needs Analysis Survey I developed a needs analysis survey of 18 questions and distributed it to a group of people that I thought would have similar characteristics to the group of learners that I wanted to focus on. The survey focused on their comfort level with technology, how much they use several pieces of technology, and their willingness/ desire to learn more.

The survey was created as a form in Google docs and distributed to 50 people via Facebook and my mobile phone. Here is the link to the survey that people received: http://bit.ly/50312sbm. I used the first 25 responses that I received in my Needs Analysis.

Here are the questions I included:

Needs Assessment Survey Questions 1 How comfortable are you with using a personal computer? 2 Do you have regular access to a computer? 3 How comfortable are you with the concept of social networking? 4 Which of the following social networks do you use on a regular basis? 5 Approximately how many hours per day do you spend using a social network? 6 Do you regularly use email? 7 Which of the following email services do you use on a regular basis? 8 Approximately how many emails do you send per day? 9 Do you have a Google account? 10 Have you heard of Google's social network, Google+? 11 If you answered no to the previous question, how comfortable would you be with

incorporating Google+ (or another social network) into your business or school work?

12 Do you want to learn how to set up a Google+ profile? 13 Is a social network (such as facebook or twitter) regularly used in your school or

place of business for either collaboration on work or distributing information? 14 If you were going to be taught how to set up a Google+ profile, how would you like

to see the information presented (check all that apply)? 15 Do you want to use Google+ to reinforce knowledge of other subjects? 16 How introverted or extroverted do you consider yourself to be? 17 How do you prefer to spend your time? 18 What is your preferred method of communicating with others (check all that

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apply)?

Part 2a.2 – Needs Analysis Survey Results Report Overall, my respondents were pretty comfortable with technology. Nearly all of them have regular access to computers and use email. Virtually all of the respondents are comfortable using facebook and most of them have at least heard of Google’s social network, Google+. The respondents seemed split on their interest in using a social network at work or school, and they did not appear to want learn more about Google+ overall. My survey did not allow for “Additional Comments,” though I do wish I had included them. It could have provided a bit more insight into what respondents were thinking about, when they filled out the survey. In order to simplify my results, I averaged the numeric level of comfort with personal computers for my respondents with the numeric level of comfort of respondents with social networks. 76% of respondents are “very comfortable” with computers and social networks, while several others are still a bit wary. Answers I received were on a scale of 1 (not comfortable) to 5 (very comfortable).

4%

20%

76%

Level of Comfort w/ Computers and Social Networking: Average

3 4 5

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Part 2b – Description of the Learning Context The learning environment for this project will be a high school or college level computer lab, equipped with enough computers for the size of the class. If the class is too large for the computer lab available, learners will be taught in multiple sections. Learners will have already received instruction on ratios and percent. Part of their work will be done online and part of it will be done with pencil and paper. The instruction will be delivered in person, but could also be delivered online or with the aid of a flash-based tutorial.

What Learner Characteristics are important to assess in the context of my Project.

Learners need to be computer literate; they need to have the oft-mentioned prior instruction in ratios and percent. I hope that they will have an interest in social media, or at least an awareness of it.

Some of the questions I will need to ask, in order to determine my learner characteristics:

o Do you have regular access to a computer? o Do you use a computer regularly? o Are you a member of a social network, such as facebook or twitter? o Do you regularly keep in touch with friends, family, and/ or classmates on

said social network? o Do you have an account with Google, already? o Are you interested in using social media to help you reinforce some of the

things you are learning in your math class?

Part 2b.1 – Learning Context

We have a computer lab at Tillamook Bay Community College that is probably representative of where this lesson would take place. It has about 15 standard desktop computers with internet access available, and a whiteboard at the front of the room. The school also has a laptop cart with around 8 computers on it, so although space would be at a premium, the computer lab could accommodate up to 23 learners. The room is also equipped with a projector.

The instructors I have thought about for teaching this lesson are under the age of 50. They come from diverse backgrounds and they teach a variety of subjects – computer application systems, business and writing. We also have one instructor under the age of 30 that is teaching a noncredit class in Facebook marketing. As an example, here is the description of that class:

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Facebook Marketing for Small Business, Introduction C (Insert Citation)

Introductory course for Small Business Owners who do not currently have a Facebook account or limited usage of the site. Topics are hands-on and include navigating Facebook, creating a personal and business account, basic site management, and evaluating effectiveness. This course is offered through OSU Open Campus. The cost is $49. Register at: https://secure.oregonstate.edu/osuext/register/334

I also looked at the previous college I worked with and found something similar:

Series III: Summer term “Marketing for Today” (Insert Citation)

The focus of this 6-session program includes all areas of marketing for the business professional. Topics discussed include: using traditional marketing methods; newspaper, radio, TV, and writing press releases; customer service, knowing what a customer wants, treating the customer right, solving customer service issues; improving sales skills, prospecting for customers, making the pitch, closing the sale; social networking and blogging, Facebook, Twitter, cautions; going to The Cloud; effective use of your website, search engines and marketing your website

Neither class description mentions Google+ specifically, but a lesson on how to create and use a Google+ profile could be a valuable central point to a similar class. Both of these schools are vastly different. Tillamook Bay Community College is small, contained in single building and serves fewer than 2000 students per academic year. The other school is a multi-building campus with a couple of satellite campuses, and it serves about 10000 students per year.

Given their disparate sizes and the fact that both schools have a similar class offering, I think a lesson in how to set up a Google+ profile is timely and given the right time and place, it could be useful.

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Part 2b.2 – Transfer Context

Many of the skills learned or used in this lesson will be transferable, even though collectively it is difficult to ascertain when one would put together a Google+ profile for the sole purpose of completing a math worksheet.

First of all, the obvious computer skills that students must have prior to completing this lesson. For the sake of simplicity, I have assumed that all of my learners know how to use a personal computer and a computer mouse. Using a computer is almost as necessary as breathing, at this point. Students should be able to use a computer and recognize it as something that could enhance both their professional and personal lives.

Google+ itself is as good a tool for social networking as any of them and should students choose too, they will be able to continue to use their Google Accounts and Google+ profiles for any purpose they choose, once the lesson has ended. For instance, if I had a pet-sitting business, I could post specials (“2 Nights for the Price of 1!”) or announce prize-winners (“Congrats to Suzy Q – she won a free massage!).

Finally, learners will be completing a worksheet on ratios and percent, once they have completed setting up a Google+ profile. This activity will help them reinforce knowledge that they have been exposed to, already. Ratios and percent are useful in a variety of settings: determining how many gallons of gas it would take for your car to travel 321 miles, for example.

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Part 2c – Description of the Learners

In general, learners will be first or second-year college students that have completed beginning algebra. They need to know how to operate a personal computer and mouse, and be able to comfortably navigate the internet. Ideally, they will be open-minded about technology and the advent of social networking in schools and businesses.

When I distributed my Need Assessment Survey, I asked respondents if they were introverted or extroverted, and how they would want to have information about Google+ delivered to them. The responses I received were across the entire spectrum of Introversion vs. Extroversion with 1 being “Very Introverted” and 7 being “Very Extroverted.” Here is what my results looked like:

Figure 1 How Introverted or Extraverted Are You?

For this subject matter, I thought it would be interesting to see how respondents would like to see have information delivered to them. I did not know what their responses would be and with such a homogeneous mix of Introversion and Extraversion, I do not know if I could have correctly predicted their responses, either. It turns out that nearly 50% of my respondents would like have information delivered to them via a computerized tutorial, with help available to them, if they need it.

0%

16%

20%

24%

20%

8%

12%

How Introverted or Extraverted are You?

1(Very Introverted) 2 3 4 5 6 7 (Very Extroverted)

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Figure 2 How Would You Like to Have Information Presented?

25%

21% 47%

7%

How Would You Like to Have Information Presented?

Alone Lab Tutorial Lecture

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Part 2d - Learning task analysis

Figure 3 Learning Objective - Given prior instruction in ratios and percent and 2 hours of instruction in 4 30-minute sessions, basic math students at a community college will be able to set up a Google+ profile, move people and pages they are interested in " following" into pre-determined circles, and then complete a worksheet based on information from their circles.

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Part 3 – Planning

Part 3a – Learning Objectives Major Objective Given prior instruction in ratios and percent and 2 hours of instruction in 4 30-minute sessions, basic math students at a community college will be able to set up a Google+ profile, move people and pages they are interested in "following" into pre-determined circles, and then complete a worksheet based on information from their circles. Detailed Objectives

1. After engaging in 1 30-minute instruction session, learners will be able to define and give examples of social networking.

1.a. After engaging in the first 10 minutes of the first 30-minute instruction session… learners will know what the definitions of social media and social networking are, and be able to explain the difference between them.

1.b. After engaging in the 2nd and 3rd 10 minutes of the first 30-minute instruction session… learners will have formed into small groups and discussed several different social networks that are currently in use.

2. At the end of the first instruction session, learners will be able to describe Google+ to someone who has a rudimentary knowledge of social media.

2.a. After engaging in the first 15 minutes of the first 30-minute instruction session… learners will be able to define Google+.

2.b. During the 2nd 15 minutes of the first 30-minute instruction session… learners will explain Google+ in their small groups or online discussions.

3. After engaging in the second (and/or third) 30-minute instruction session, the learners will be able to demonstrate that they know how to set up a new Google account.

3.a. After engaging in the first 10 minutes of the second 30-minute instruction session… learners will be able to determine whether or not they already have a Google account.

3.b. After engaging in the 2nd 10 minutes of the second 30-minute instruction session… learners that already have a Google account will be asked to navigate to the Google

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website and sign in and be patient, while learners that do not already have a Google account will be asked to navigate to the Google website and demonstrate that they know how to create a new account.

3.c. After engaging in the 3rd and final 10 minutes of the second 30 minute instruction session… learners will be asked to sign into their new Google accounts, if they have not already done so, and demonstrate that they can familiarize themselves with the black menu bar at the top of the screen.

4. After engaging in the third 30-minute instruction session, the learners will be able to demonstrate that they can set up a Google+ account, describe what circles are, how to create them and how to find and add their classmates to circles that have been pre-determined by their instructor.

4.a. After engaging in the first 10 minutes of the third 30-minute instruction session… learners will be able to demonstrate that they can sign into and set up their Google+ accounts, and find the “Circles” button.

4.b. After engaging in the 2nd 10 minutes of the third 30-minute instruction session… learners will be able to describe what circles are and how to create them.

4.c. After engaging in the 3rd and final 10 minutes of the third 30 minute instruction session… learners will be able to demonstrate that they can find and add their classmates to circles that have been pre-determined by their instructor.

5. After engaging in the fourth and final 30-minute instruction session, learners will have reviewed the concept of circles, will know how to determine how many people are in a single circle, know how to determine how many total people they have circled, and determine how many people have circled them. (Procedural knowledge (IS).)

5.a. After engaging in the first 10 minutes of the fourth 30-minute instruction session… learners will have reviewed the concept of circles and will know how to determine how many people are in a single circle.

5.b. After engaging in the 2nd 10 minutes of the fourth 30-minute instruction session… learners will demonstrate that they know how many people are in a single circle.

5.c. After engaging in the 3rd and final 10 minutes of the fourth 30 minute instruction session… learners will know how to demonstrate that they can determine how many total people they have circled and how many people have circled them.

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Part 3b – Matrix of Objectives, Bloom's Taxonomy, and Assessments. Matrix of Objectives, Bloom's Taxonomy, Assessment Plan

Learning Objectives (a)

Bloom’s Taxonomy Classification (b)

Format of Assessment (c)

Description of test form (d)

Sample items (e)

1 Knowledge Post-Assessment

Paper and Pencil Assessment

Please give me 3 examples of social networks:

1.a Comprehend Post-Assessment

Paper and Pencil Assessment

What is the difference between a social network and social media?

1.b Comprehend Post-Assessment

Observation: On the Job Performance

Give Student Y an example of a currently used Social Network and tell them what it is most commonly used for.

2 Comprehend Post-Assessment

Paper and Pencil Assessment

Give me a simple definition of Google+:

2.a Knowledge Post-Assessment

Paper and Pencil Assessment

What is Google+?

2.b Knowledge Post-Assessment

Observation: On the Job Performance

Explain to Student Y what Google+ is.

3 Apply Post-Assessment

Observation: On the Job Performance

Show me how you navigated to the Google website.

3.a Apply Pre-Assessment

Observation: On the Job

Please raise your hand if you already have a Google

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Performance account.

3.b Apply Post-Assessment

Observation: On the Job Performance

Learners demonstrate ability to find and fill out the form for creating a new Google account.

3.c Apply Post-Assessment

Observation: On the Job Performance

Do you use any of the applications that you see in the black menu bar? What are they?

4 Knowledge Post-Assessment

Observation: On the Job Performance

What is a circle?

4.a Apply Post-Assessment

Observation: On the Job Performance

Please sign into your Google+ account.

4.b Knowledge Post-Assessment

Observation: On the Job Performance

Show me how you would create a new circle named “Gamma”.

4.c Apply Post-Assessment

Observation: On the Job Performance

Show me how you would add Student Y to your circle called “Gamma”

5 Comprehend Post-Assessment

Paper and Pencil Assessment

Write down how many total people have you circled.

5.a Apply Post-Assessment

Paper and Pencil Assessment

How many people are in the circle called “Gamma”?

5.b Apply Post- Paper and Pencil

Find the number that indicated how

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Assessment Assessment many people you have circled. Write it down.

5.c Apply Post-Assessment

Paper and Pencil Assessment

Find the number that indicates how many people have circled you. Write it down.

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Part 3c – ARCS Table Categories & Subcategories Process Questions ATTENTION A.1. Perceptual arousal A.2. Inquiry arousal A.3. Variability

• What can the instructor do to capture their interest? How can students use this information in their lives outside of the lesson?

• How can the instructor stimulate an attitude of inquiry?

Ask students if they have any questions. Ask if they know how this can be used in other classes. Put a screenshot up on the projector and see if that arouses any questions from the learners.

• How can the instructor maintain their attention?

A tutorial built in flash (for example) would provide visual interest. Reminders of how Google+ can be used in the “real world” would also be helpful.

RELEVANCE R.1. Goal orientation R.2. Motive matching R.3. Familiarity

• How can the instructor best meet the learners’ needs (How do the instructor know their needs?) A needs assessment was done to try and determine the needs of my learners. The showed an interest in communicating with friends/ family and providing updates from the companies they work for. The instructor can gear the discussion toward things of this nature, before turning them loose on building a Google+ profile.

• How and when can the instructor provide the learners with appropriate choices, responsibilities, and influences? At the end of each segment, the learners have responsibilities to complete, whether it’s presenting a piece of information to the instructor, discussion of something with their classmates, or putting together part of the Google+ profile.

• How can the instructor tie the instruction to the learner’s experiences? Most people will have used Facebook or twitter. The instructor can show them how they can perform similar activities to what they’ve encountered in Facebook,

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twitter or Skype in Google+. They can interact with friends, family and colleagues in much the same way.

CONFIDENCE C.1. Learning requirements C.2. Success opportunities C.3. Personal control

• How can the instructor assist in building a positive expectation for success? Continual emphasis of the relevance of learning about Google+ and completing the profile. If this is part of an unrelated class, extra credit could be provided. Learners may also enjoy the chance to collaborate with their peers.

• How will the learning experience support or enhance the students’ beliefs in their competence? The students will have a finished product at the end of the lesson. They will have fully set up a Google+ profile and learned how to connect with people using that profile.

• How will the learners clearly know their success is based on their efforts and abilities? The instructor is not handing out Google+ profiles. She/ he is providing guidance on how to set up a profile. If learners are leery of “the web” or they struggle mechanically with operating a computer and mouse setup, they will find it necessary to work a little harder to complete this lesson.

SATISFACTION S.1. Natural consequences S.2. Positive consequences S.3. Equity

• How can the instructor provide meaningful opportunities for learners to use their newly acquired knowledge/skill? Letting them know they can connect with the instructor on the social network (another benefit to Google+ is that it seems to have more of a professional “bent” than Facebook) or encouraging them to connect with their classmates in the future will provide this for the learners.

• What will provide reinforcement to the learner’s successes? Either a grade or extra credit will provide the positive consequence. There is also no code to mess up, so if a learner successfully sets up a Google+ profile, they will have a clean, professional-looking web space to use, when

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they are done with the class. Additionally affirmations throughout the lesson such as “good job” and “way to go” can provide “positive consequences.

• How can the instructor assist the students in anchoring a positive feeling about their accomplishments? Re-iterate that social networking is a major way in which people communicate and in fact many of the learners’ friends and family probably use a similar website to communicate with one another. The learners will be able to communicate with the people they care about with more ease, if they were not previously familiar with social networking.

Part 4 – Instructor Guide Introduction

Activate Attention or Gain Attention

Attention may be gained in a couple of different ways, for this particular lesson.

First, the instructor can start the lesson off with a couple of well thought-out questions that learners will presumably want to participate in answering. For instance, the instructor could ask any of the following:

1. How many of you use Facebook? What do you use it for? 2. Do your places of business use Facebook or another social network? 3. What do you think Google does? Did you know they also have a social network?

Second, if the lesson comes in the form of a tutorial or other online module, the learning event is going to be in the form of introductory graphics or a snappy user interface.

For the purposes of this project, however, gaining the learners’ attention will most likely be accomplished through probing questions or detectable enthusiasm on the part of the instructor.

Establish Purpose or Inform Learners of Purpose

In this lesson, the learners are going to be setting up a Google+ profile. Establishing purpose can be as simple as stating that. The instructor may want to look over the detailed list of objectives and point out a few of the major points he/ she will be covering in the lesson:

1. Background and definitions for social networks.

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2. Setting up a Google+ profile. 3. Working with Circles.

Arouse Interest and Motivation or Stimulate Learners’ Attention/Motivation

The instructor should explain why learning to use a social network is important. They can talk about how social networking is a prolific form of communication, not only in the personal lives of millions of people, but in their professional lives as well.

Businesses regularly post events and updates to Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Google+. The instructor should emphasize that social networking is going to continue to be a part of all our lives.

Preview the Learning Activity or Provide Overview

In this lesson, the instructor will first provide an overview of social media and social networking. Next, he/she will put the students into small groups, in order to discuss currently used social networks.

Later in the lesson, the instructor will guide students through the process of setting up a Google and/ or a Google+ account. After that, students will be asked to sort their classmates into Circles/ Groups within Google+.

Finally, learners will be asked to perform some simple ratio and percent calculations using information from their circles.

Body

Recall relevant prior knowledge or Stimulate recall of prior knowledge

Even in the unlikely event that learners have not heard of Facebook, the concept of social networking will be introduced. By the end of the first 30 minute instruction session, knowledge of social networking will become prior knowledge and students will be able to recall it for the purposes of their small group discussions.

Additionally, the instructor might make it a point to compare social networks to our in-the-flesh networks of friends, family and colleagues. In doing this, learners might be lead to the definition of an electronic social network, where people connect, help one another or hang out.

This might also be a good time to mention that you can “hang out” with others online, too, either through video chat or Google+’s “hang out” feature.

Process information and examples or Present information and examples

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Focus Attention or Gain & Direct Attention

When learners start working on setting up their profiles, it might be necessary to keep them focused on the task at hand. The instructor might do this by posing questions to the group, such as:

1. What similarities or differences do you notice between the sign up process for Google+ and Facebook? (Might not be a relevant question for Facebook users that are going on 5 or so years of usage.)

2. Can other social networks be connected to Google+ or vice-verse?

The instructor should remind students that they can continue to use this profile for their personal or professional use, once the lesson is completed.

Employ Learning Strategies or Guide or Prompt Use of Learning Strategies

Prompts the instructor can use to stimulate learning might include the following:

• “In order to remember the address for Google, think of the number. Maybe the visual will help you remember the address.”

• “When you create a new password for your Google account, be sure to write it down somewhere. Suggest that learners enter it into a notepad file, for now, and save it to a flash drive. There are also ways to create secure files – it might be helpful to have one of these methods handy, in the event of more paranoid learners.”

• “One option is to write the password, username and site where it is used in a word document. You can then “protect” the document in MS Word with a password.”

Practice or Provide for and Guide Practice

The instructor should expect that at the end of each 10 or 15 minute section of the lesson, the learners will be conferring with a small group. During these times, they will be practicing the information that they have gained during the presentation portion of the lesson.

Additionally, there is a practical aspect to this lesson, where the student actually builds and sets up a profile. Presumably, this takes place during and after the demonstration portion of the lesson. Naturally, students will need to practice what has been covered in the lesson, in order to complete the major learning goal for this lesson.

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If a beneficial electronic tutorial were made available to guide the students through tis process, then the instructor could let the students “practice” and follow the tutorial, and be able to answer questions, rather than being the tutorial.

Evaluate Feedback or Provide Feedback

The instructor will ask the students to answer questions on working with circles, toward the end of the 3 or 4 instruction sessions. This will be the most complicated aspect of this lesson. Additionally, if students have provided accurate information about their circles, the instructor should be able to determine if the answers on their ratios/ percent worksheet are correct.

Conclusion

Summarize and review or Provide summary and review

The instructor will re-iterate what has been covered during the lesson. The instructor can review the fractions/ percent worksheet with the class as a whole, if she/ he chooses, and review any vague or confusing points of the lesson during that conversation with the learners.

Transfer learning or Enhance transfer

The instructor will re-emphasize that students can continue to use their Google+ profiles (or other social network profiles) in life outside of this lesson. More than likely, their friends, family and co-workers use them. Down the line, they may be asked to do something like manage the social media of a business they currently work for, plan to work for or start in the future.

Like the telephone and video and email, social networking websites are a way to communicate and therefore, they’re relevant to a life outside of the classroom.

Granted, it is unlikely that the learners will need to calculate statistics for their circles, outside of class, unless of course they need to do that in order to project what they want the numbers to look like for their business, in the future.

Remotivate and Close or Provide Remediation and Closure

• The instructor will let the learners know that the lesson is over.

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• The instructor will emphasize [again] that the information covered during the lesson can be used at the learners’ will outside of the classroom. Being comfortable with social media might be a deciding factor in a job one day.

• The instructor will express appreciation for the learners’ attention and invite them to “circle” him/ her on Google+, and contact him/ her if they have any questions about how to use their profiles.

Assess Learning or Conduct Assessment Evaluate

Assessment is done throughout the lesson, by listening to feedback from students or by having them demonstrate skills necessary to create a Google+ profile.

Feedback and Seek Remediation or Provide Feedback and Remediation

There are probably very few lessons out there that are perfect. The instructor will receive feedback from learners on the pace of the lesson and have the following questions answered:

• Does it need to be 1.5 or 2 hours long, or would it be better as a 20 minute lesson, overall?

• Does there need to be an instructor, or would the learners prefer to work through a tutorial on their own?

Learners contacted during the needs assessment were asked some of these questions, but it would also be neat to see the instructor administer a post-assessment or follow-up survey, to find out what the students thought after the fact. Information from the survey will be used to improve future lessons.

Part 5 – Learner Content

Part 5a. Learning Materials

Flash-Based Tutorial: How to Setup a Google+ Account Additionally, I am working on a flash-based tutorial for learners, in the event that the instructor decides that he or she is interested in going down the tutorial-based route I have suggested occasionally.

Here is a link to the flash-based tutorial: http://goo.gl/eU6L4. It is currently incomplete, but I hope to complete enough of it to make the point that it would be a useful addition to this lesson in the future.

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The group of learners most likely to benefit from this tutorial would be more the more tech-savvy group that is interested in working ahead of the class. There is a lot of room for refinement and improvement in the tutorial, in order to accommodate a wider spectrum of learners.

The purpose of this material is to reinforce the knowledge that is being delivered by the instructor by providing a slightly more visual approach to learning the material. It would most likely be administered shortly after the first 30 minute instruction session.

Screenshots:

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Worksheet on Ratios and Percent Worksheet: http://goo.gl/cMpZg. This is the worksheet I hope to have learners complete at the end of this lesson in creating a Google+ profile. I really liked the format of the survey I submitted to potential learners, when I did my Needs Analysis, so I have decided to use Google Docs, again, to put this together. I also noticed that when you use Google’s URL Shortener at

http://goo.gl/, a QR code is generated for the URL. If the instructor or learners are interested in experimenting with mobile technology, it is possible to scan this QR code and complete the worksheet online.

The purpose of this worksheet is to reinforce knowledge of a couple of math concepts – ratios and percent –through the use of the newly created Google+ account. The worksheet will be used at the end of instruction, or as learners complete the setup of their Google+ profiles.

Screenshots:

Please note: the templates are property of Google. I did not design them – when you create a form in Google Docs, you can select a “theme” as well.

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Part 5b. Formative and/ or Summative Assessment Materials I created an assessment using Google Docs that can be administered to the learners at the end of the lesson. It requests declarative knowledge of the learners. It could be used in conjunction with the Ratios and Percent worksheet, in order to gain a more well-rounded view of the learners’ abilities, coming out of this lesson.

Here is the link to the assessment: http://goo.gl/vPU6c.

Screenshots:

Please note: the templates are property of Google. I did not design them – when you create a form in Google Docs, you can select a “theme” as well.

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Part 5c. Technology Tool Justification Desktop/ Laptop Computer Lab – each student needs hands-on experience with the

setup of the Google+ account. This is only possible if each student is able to work on a computer at the same time as the instructor.

Projector – in order for the instructor to demonstrate the creation of a Google+ profile, a projector is a logical tool for delivering information to a group of students.

Flash-Based Tutorial – provided as a different format for the delivery of the information, in order to accommodate a wider variety of learners, but also to allow more tech-savvy students to work ahead.

Google-Docs-Based Assessments/ Worksheets – Google docs was chosen for convenience. The worksheets and responses are automatically stored online, but in addition, if necessary, the worksheet/ assessment can be printed for learners to fill out.

Part 6 – Formative Evaluation Plan

Part 6a – Expert Review 1. WHO the SME is and WHEN you expect to submit your design document and materials to the SME and receive feedback.

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My SME is Katie Paulson. She’s a PhD candidate in Instructional Design for Online Learning. I’m hoping submit my design to her, early this weekend. She is planning on having it returned to me before the end of next week.

I worked with Katie for about 2.5 years, and she’s someone whose judgment I trust without hesitation.

2. WHAT questions you will ask the expert about your instructional materials (and responses)?

• How accurate and up-to-date is the content? • How consistent is the content's perspective? • How consistent is the pedagogical approach with current instructional theory in this content

area? • How appropriate is the instruction for the target learners? • How consistent are the instructional strategies with the principles of instructional theory? • Do you see any areas that need to be improved? • Have I overlooked some type of evaluation that is specifically related to the technology being

used in the project? • Additional Comments/ Feedback:

Part 6b – One-to-One Evaluation In order to do this evaluation, I would talk to the instructor-to-be about who would make appropriate guinea pigs, or whether we should use staff as guinea pigs. Once we have secured a couple of “test learners,” I would find out about available facilities and schedule a time where myself, the instructor, and our “test learners” could meet for about 3 hours. I think this would be more than enough time to run through the lesson, and be able to receive feedback from both the learners and the instructor.

At the end of each session, we could have a feedback/ question-and-answer session. For instance, at the end of the first session, I would ask the learners what they thought: did the instructor cover too much information for you to absorb in one sitting; did the information seem relevant, meaning do you think you can take anything away from this lesson that you will want to use later on?

Surveys are a great tool and we could include one at the end of this trial run, asking for additional feedback, such as what did they like or dislike about the lesson; what would they change; what learning aides would be useful. This survey could also be distributed to the instructor, instructional designer and other present parties, for the broadest feedback.

Involved in the process:

• Math Instructor • Instructional Designer

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• 1 or 2 Learners representing target audience

Key Questions:

• Do you understand the instruction? • What are you thinking as you navigate through the tutorial (if used)? • What could be improved?

Part 6c – Small Group Evaluation My instruction wound up including a lot of group discussion, so it might be beneficial for the small-group evaluation to be just that. The text mentions that the small group could be broken up.

In this phase of evaluation, we will be implementing any changes that resulted from the one-to-one evaluation, and asking a lot of the same questions. Additionally, we will determine whether the learners have pre-requisite skills. This can be done using pre- and post-testing.

In this phase of evaluation, the designer is more of an observer.

Involved in process:

• Math Instructor • Small group of Learners • Instructional Designer (as an observer)

Key Questions:

• Do you understand what is being asked of you? • Can you successfully navigate through the tutorial (if used)? • What was the most difficult aspect of this instruction? What was the easiest?

Part 6d – Field Trial Field Trial

In this phase of the evaluation, we will be implementing any changes that resulted from the small-group evaluation. Additionally, we will look at whether there are any administrative or equipment issues that crop up during the instruction.

During this phase of evaluation, feedback from the learners is once again important. Surveys at the beginning of instruction or at the end of the lesson (or both) would be beneficial. In this phase of evaluation, the designer is often not present. His

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or her will include managing data: ensuring that pre- and post- tests are distributed, and analyzing data as he or she receives it.

Involved parties:

• Regular-Sized Group of Target Learners • Math Instructor • Instructional Designer (data analysis)

Key questions:

On a scale of 1 to 5:

• How well did you understand the instruction? • Do you think the tutorial (if used) takes too much time?

Additional:

• What did you like? • What could be improved?

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Part 7 – Formative Evaluation Report Link to survey: http://goo.gl/OhCis

Part 7a – Evaluation Survey or Rubric Please note: the templates are property of Google. I did not design them – when you create a form in Google Docs, you can select a “theme” as well.

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Part 7b – Report the Results of the Expert Review Overall, the feedback I received from my SME was good. The average of her numerical responses to my work was 4 (on a scale of 5). Major suggestions that Katie made for improvement included the following:

• In terms of either teaching the lesson or setting up/ designing the lesson, she suggested a knowledge “scaffolding,” where students that are more proficient with Google+, social media, or technology in general are paired with less knowledgeable students.

• Lesson plan needs to be more clearly organized, since the intent of this project is to hand the lesson off to an instructor. This should include “questions, definitions, approximate time on task, dividing into group suggestions, potential feedback or prompts, etc.”

Katie also pointed out a few strengths in my project, including the following:

• If I can complete my flash tutorial that I want to include with this project, she thinks it is an advantage to this lesson, especially for more tech-savvy students that want to work ahead.

• She felt that the lesson was manageable. She also felt that the target audience was clear and that the level of the material was appropriate for that audience.

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Table 1 Questions and Responses from Professional Evaluation

Questions Numeric/ Mult. Choice Response

Additional Comments

How accurate and up-to-date is the content? 4

It appears that the content is up to date and accurate. I am not a current Google+ user but it appears that I could successfully manage this task at the end of this mini-course.

How consistent is the pedagogical approach with current instructional theory

in this content area? 4

How appropriate is the instruction for the target

learners? 3

This one is very difficult to gauge in social media type learning tutorials. If you have the people who are very computer proficient and tech savvy parts of this may seem to slow. However, if you have less social media and tech savvy learners it may be just right. Consider using some sort of knowledge scaffolding when breaking students into groups so that those who rate themselves as more knowledgeable/proficient in social media for instance are paired with those less knowledgeable so that the more savvy can help to teach the less savvy and the knowledge will balance out.

How consistent are the instructional strategies with

the principles of instructional theory? 4 Good alignment in this area

Do you see any areas that need to be improved? Yes

I am not sure if this is a lesson that the designer will be teaching or that they will be handing over to an instructor to teach. If it is being handed over to another instructor to teach I think that a clearly organized step-by-step lesson plan would be beneficial. Complete with questions, definitions, approximate time on task, dividing into group suggestions, potential feedback or prompts, etc. However, if the designer is teaching it I assume they have all of that knowledge and will have no problem teaching the course as is outlined.

Have I overlooked some type of evaluation that is specifically related to the technology being used in

the project? No

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Additional Comments/ Feedback:

Overall, I think this is a very well done project with an appropriate mix of visual aids, activities and tasks chunked into manageable units for both teaching and learning and good rationale for the need. I think having the flash tutorial is an added bonus that can be used as a standalone and/or for remediation for those students who may struggle with any of the concepts.

How consistent is the content's perspective? 5

Great job with emphasizing the benefits of learning a social media tool, the need for the knowledge, and the possible application. The target audience and population is clear and the content is written to meet the needs of that audience.

Part 7c – Comments on Change I would like to complete more of the tutorial that I promised in the Instructional Materials section. However, while it is incomplete, it is viewable and the viewer gets a sense of what I intended.

I went through the instructor guide and worked on the tense and tried to make it a little more readable. I would like to do more work on it, overall, and provide more details to the potential instructor.

I employed Microsoft Word’s spelling and grammar check, and caught more errors that I thought were out there.

The ratio and percent worksheet is complete and available in the instructional materials section of this report.

A post-lesson assessment has been created and is available in the assessment materials section of this report.

Part 8. AECT Standards Grid Assignments meeting standard in whole or part Standard 1: DESIGN 1.1 Instructional Systems Design (ISD) X ID Project 1.1.1 Analyzing X ID Project 1.1.2 Designing X ID Project 1.1.3 Developing X ID Project 1.1.4 Implementing X ID Project 1.1.5 Evaluating X Selected Discussion Forums; ID Project

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1.2 Message Design 1.3 Instructional Strategies X ID Project 1.4 Learner Characteristics X ID Project Standard 2: DEVELOPMENT 2.0 (includes 2.0.1 to 2.0.8) X ID Project 2.1 Print Technologies X Reading Quiz; ID Projects 2.2 Audiovisual Technologies 2.3 Computer-Based Technologies X (all assignments) 2.4 Integrated Technologies Standard 3: UTILIZATION 3.0 (includes 3.0.1 & 3.0.2) 3.1 Media Utilization X (all assignments) 3.2 Diffusion of Innovations 3.3 Implementation and Institutionalization X

ID Project

3.4 Policies and Regulations Standard 4: MANAGEMENT 4.0 (includes 4.0.1 & 4.0.3) 4.1 Project Management 4.2 Resource Management 4.3 Delivery System Management 4.4 Information Management Standard 5: EVALUATION 5.1 Problem Analysis X 5.2 Criterion-Referenced Measurement X ID Project 5.3 Formative and Summative Evaluation X ID Project 5.4 Long-Range Planning

Works Cited 1. Mellon, C. (1997). Goal Analysis: Back to the Basics. TechTrends, 42(5), 38–42.

2. Smith, P. L., & Ragan, T. J. (2004). Instructional Design (3rd ed.). Wiley.