I reviewed Pod 3’s interactive learning resource on Digital Photography (Smart phones), and this is the link of their resource http://smartphotography.online/
First of all it was a pleasure to read your group’s resources, you did a great job and I will be reviewing the following areas.
An overview of the resource
The overall level of completion of your group was very high, and the web page was very well developed, so that the learners knew exactly what they were supposed to learn and what they were supposed to do in the corresponding unit.
A description and rationale for the learning theory
You wrote that you would use cognitivism as the theory for your entire course, which I think is perfect because cognitivism can help your course very well. As opposed to an art course like photography, cognitivism would be better at helping students build their own learning strategies and understanding of photography.
A description and rationale for the learning design
In terms of course design, your group used Direct instruction, which I think is helpful for your group’s course. Because for beginner photography courses, direct instruction can help students quickly understand the operation of photography.
A description of your learning context
I see that you have this course designed for ELL students and students who only have mobile devices. Also you will use simple English and all the videos have English subtitles. I think these two ideas are very good and helpful for non-native English speaking students like me. But I think for ELL students and other students, the videos might probably be more helpful than the text, especially for this kind of specialized knowledge, because there might be some specialized vocabulary that ELL students will have a hard time understanding.Learning outcomes
Brief commentary about each topic and activity
I would like to say again that the design of each topic and activity of your group is very clear. Under each topic, you can clearly find what needs to be done, such as the articles that need to be read and the assignments that need to be submitted. This design is really helpful for students. Good course planning will help students build their own good learning strategies. One suggestion I have for this section is that you could put a video under each topic that you have recorded to teach students how to use their phones to take pictures. I found that each topic is either an article or a picture. Compared to these two things, the video may be easier to understand. And the cell phone part is only iphone, is it more helpful to add the introduction of other brands of cell phones. I also think you designed each activity to fit your topic and not make it too difficult or too easy for the students. It was very good. However, I have some confusion about whether your course is taught online, whether students need to go into Zoom for a specific time, and whether there is a teacher teaching or just reading the material to complete.
An overview of your assessment plan
The overall grading is very clear and the scores for each section are very reasonable. I do agree with setting the score for class participation and discussion at 20%, because for a beginning photography class, the instructor can help the students by identifying problems through student discussion.
An overview of your plans to design for inclusion of diverse learners.
First of all you choose to come to ELL and students who can only take classes with mobile devices. By reading your content, I think you have done a great job. For ELL students use English subtitles, for mobile students create a platform and can read offline. These are great things to do. But I see that the two parts of your inclusive design and learning context are actually a little bit similar. They both mention instructional programs and issues for ELL students. I don’t think there’s some overlap.
A rationale for your technology choices.
I see that you have chosen to use blog and Moodle as your technical support, which I think is great. Both of them can help your course very well and both are very easy to use. I think the design of this section is perfect.
I think it’s a great interactive learning resource.