Professional Learning Goals

This project resulted in increased equity, engagement and achievement for most of the students. Student engagement had the potential to increase because we greatly increased the opportunities for students to access descriptive feedback from previous lessons. When this information was retrieved by students via technology and it was personalized, student learning increased. We learned that the use of technology may have suited the learning styles and preferences of some of our students. The opportunity to differentiate through technology also showed an increase in student achievement. Technology removed some of the barriers to accessing feedback for some learners (those that may struggle to read, students that learn through visual cues) and students who have anxiety when asking questions or asking for clarification on assessments. It was interesting to note the depth of some of the reflections made by students in ePortfolio that we may not have had an opportunity to hear from the students via other means.

Activities and Resources

Because we were at four schools, we chose activities that best met the needs of our class. Even though the activities that we chose for our students may have been different, we shared a common goal. We wanted to provide students with an opportunity to reflect on their learning afterwards and set goals and identify areas of strengths and needs. The crucial step that we added to our teaching practice was to allow students not only to make these reflections but also to revisit these reflections at any time for all subsequent tasks. The list below is a brief description of the activities.

• Students completed reading responses to texts. Students answered questions and submitted on the HUB.
• Students wrote an essay after a novel that they read up to a certain point
• Students completed descriptive paragraphs for character sketches
• Students worked on an inquiry project for geography and were provided feedback on their submissions via the HUB

Unexpected Challenges

• Access to technology: Not all of our schools had access to the same amount or access of technology. Some of our schools have students where technology usage is one-to-one while others are dependent on school budgets or students bringing in their own devices.
• Familiarity with D2L (the HUB): Some students required some time to learn the HUB platform. While it is not difficult to learn, access to technology at some of the schools made it more challenging at the beginning for students to become familiarized with the HUB. As teachers, there was a learning curve as well and we set aside time to learn about the functionality. We met after school as a group to become better familiarized and we corresponded when needed to help each other better navigate the platform.
• Student Self-Assessment: Some students had some difficulties interpreting teacher feedback. Their reflections were not as meaningful. We had to go back to the rubric and do a shared reading so that they understood it well. Their subsequent reflections became more effective.
• Time: For semester schools, time to provide students an opportunity to write their reflections was an issue
• Ordering iPads: Ordering iPads and booking days for meeting with the team were a source of frustration. Issues with the school board budget codes hindered or delayed purchases and meetings.
• HUB user interface: The user interface of the HUB is not simple. There is a lot of text on the screen and it can be difficult to find where you need to go or where to direct students. You can change the appearance of the HUB to greatly reduce the text and make it more icon-based and student-friendly, but it is not easy to know where to change the settings.
• Compatibility Issues: The HUB and ePortfolio were not compatible on the phone and many students were using their phones to add their reflections. (Note: they are working on a mobile version that should be functional shortly)

Enhancing Student Learning and Development

• For the reading response to the texts, feedback was provided to students and students had an opportunity to then act on the feedback. Students then added a reflection of their work on ePortfolio and were provided an opportunity to improve their responses.
• For the novel study activity, students were provided feedback on the HUB and posted a reflection on the ePortfolio. Before the students commenced their second essay, they referred to their reflections to help them remember their goals.
• For the character sketches, students did a group paragraph and initially did peer feedback before receiving feedback from the teacher. Students added a reflection based on the teacher feedback and set specific goals for their next task.
• For the geography inquiry, students had to write a reflection and identify an area of strength and next steps. Before the next inquiry, students had to read their reflections and incorporate their next steps into their project.

Sharing

• Findings will be shared with teachers in our home schools. We plan to present portions of our project at either staff meeting or professional development days.
• Our board has a day devoted to learning with a focus on technology. A portion of the workshop on the HUB and ePortfolio will share the benefits of student reflections with these technological tools.

Project Evaluation

• Students did demonstrate improvement in some academic skills and especially their learning skills, depending on the teacher feedback. This improvement can be partly attributed to an increased focus on writing their reflections on ePortfolio and also providing students an opportunity to revisit their reflections before beginning the next task.
• Students learned how to use the HUB and became very comfortable with the platform. Some of the new learning they acquired was how to use the dropbox, interpret the rubrics and teacher feedback, and create and manage their own reflections.
• A lot of students were eager to await for their feedback so that they could see how they did and subsequently set their own goals. The students were beginning to make a connection between improvement in the academic marks or learning skills and their own goals that they were setting in their reflections. A habit became instilled in them to make a meaningful reflection after they had completed most of their tasks, whether it be a direct response to the teacher feedback or if they made a personal change (i.e., used rubric regularly to complete work, asked teacher questions frequently, sat in a quiet space in the classroom, etc.) that either allowed them to experience some success in the completed task or that they felt was their next step so that could experience success in a future task.
• Having the rubric in hand or split screen helped the students write better reflections because they could see the teacher comments and feedback