Williams - Design Document

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Tynisa Williams

Dr. Shumack

November 12, 2010

FNDS 6243

Mastering Math Design Document

Executive Summary

This online individually prescribed instructional program website will be provided through the

LeNetta Banks group as a tool to give students an alternative to their current course schedule.

The initial website will be a small introduction to the abilities of the program and cover major

content areas that many students have trouble in. Additions to the program will include

personalized lessons in areas that prescribed students will need. Through a combination of

testing and short yet relevant and applicable video lessons, students will be able to pacethemselves to a place of learning that will enable to join their peers in the classroom. The pretest

will allow the teacher to assess where the student is and the posttest will allow the instructor to

see what the student has learned, or determine further need of instruction.

Students will be directed to the site on an as needed basis. Due to this fact, the learning

will be asynchronous. The idea to make the course online and stand alone was for student

accessibility at any time. The lessons available on the site will be downloadable so that students

will be able to take their learning with them. The usability, features, and functions of the

program are all centered on the student.

The goal of this program is to improve student success in the classroom and to create an

environment where the student can learn, at their own pace, and take the information back to the

classroom. Their grades should improve which should also improve their confidence. The

instruction is personalized in the fact that the teacher prescribes the activities and lessons to the

student based on the areas they are lacking in. Similar to a doctor prescribing medicine to a

patient, both are necessary to help the person get better.

Guardian and teacher oversight of the program will allow for progress to be recorded and

maintained. If records are necessary for student files, the program will assist with maintaining

the information. The scores being given back to the student after taking the pre- and posttest will

aid the student in knowing where they need help. Immediate assessment feedback is necessary to

show need for improvement and afterward to show success. The same goes for the feedbackprovided by the student. If the student is able to provide feedback on a lesson and then come

back to the program and see the changes made, their level of empowerment and confidence will

be greatly improved and they will feel a part of the solution. Hopefully this will matriculate back

into the classroom and give the student the confidence required to provide input and to

participate in classroom activities in a productive and positive way.


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Learning Need

The LeNetta Banks Group is an organization committed to the nurturing of the mind and spirit.

Success in school is one of the ways to improve the mind and nurture the spirit. Mastering Math

is a product gives students the keys to success that is needed to increase their productivity and

learning. Classroom size and learning level diversity makes it difficult for teachers to be able to

attend to the needs of struggling students, especially if the need is one-on-one. This product will

be able to assist the student in getting personalized instruction in a manner that is private and

self- paced reducing the stress of being singled out and thereby improving performance.

Instructional Goals

Students who view the lessons and understand the content will be able to pass the posttest given

at the conclusion of the lesson. If further instruction is necessary, the student will be able to

review more lessons and even save lessons to be viewed more than once. This will allow

learning provided by the program to carry on a continual basis. This should carry over into the

classroom where the student will be able to return to the classroom with minimal disruption andbe able to perform at the pace of the class. As more students use the program and provide

feedback, more lessons will be added to the site to ensure a robust program that will benefit

students at every learning level. The successful use of the program will produce students who are

confident in their math skills and allow that confidence to show through improved grades and

success in class which in turn will lead to improved self-esteem which is the goal of our client.

Audience Definition

The major audience to use this program will be middle school student-clients of the LeNetta

Banks group. The grades will range from 6-8. There are various subgroups that can be definedwithin the audience from gender to region to grade level; however, the most useful subgroup

would be education (or learning) level. For organizational purposes, subgroups can also be

defined by teacher or school. Since the audience will be participating in the program at the

recommendation of the client, it stands that the learners will be distributed. Poor performance in

school, especially in math, has the consequence of producing students who have given up. As

such, many will lack motivation at the onset of using the program. There will be others, though,

who will be motivated to learn and want to improve their grades or not be retained. Prior

knowledge of the content will vary, but the program itself is an original design so students will

be using it for the first time. Education level will vary with the student. Some students will be

slightly behind as in a grade level and others may have a severe deficiency and have knowledgeas low as first grade. This is especially true for learning disabled students.

Delivery Environment

The product website will be available with any Internet connected device. For most effective use

of the program, a computer or laptop would be the best choice; however, future design of the

program will allow for use on portable handheld devices to allow students to access the program


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wherever they may be. Once the student (or teacher) has created an account, they will be able to

access their page and information. The lessons will be on video, so visual and audio capabilities

will need to be present. Learning will be asynchronous.

The delivery platform for the program will be Windows XP. Though Macintosh is a

popular platform, the majority of schools and systems use Windows. There have been too many

incompatibilities with the Windows 7 platform and many users (including schools) do not have

updated systems, so we chose to use XP. The program will be able to be used in most any

browser, from Internet Explorer to Linux. Lessons are in mp3 or mp4 format and therefore will

be available for download to a portable device however pre- and posttests will only be assessable

online.

The student can receive logon information from their teacher or guardian, since the

program is a prescribed on. Guardians/teachers will have an account, but the student will have

their own personal account where they can track their progress. Test scores, times and login

times will be recorded in the system and available for reporting. Sitting times will vary with the

student due to the pre- and posttests; however, individual lessons will not last longer than 10minutes.

Development Tools

Standard web development tools will be used. The instructional designer is considering using

Moodle to use the product as a course management system to concentrate more on content than

on website development. Tracking, reporting, and updates will also be easier and more efficient.

General Outcomes

- Students will be able to take the pretest to know what lessons need to be covered-

Students will watch the video lessons as needed to comprehend the lesson- Students will successfully pass the posttest after watching the video lessons- Students will provide feedback on the program to be used by the instructional designer to

make updates to the program

Assessment Strategies

The student will begin each session with choosing a content area and field that is prescribed to

their account by the teacher. The pretest will be the first activity and will be used to determine

which lesson(s) the student will need to watch. After the test, the student will be provided a link

to the lessons needed. They can watch the lessons and also download them to a portable device

for review. After reviewing the lesson, the student will be guided to the posttest consisting ofsimilar questions from the pretest. Scores from the pre- and posttest will be recorded and

available for the guardian/teacher to use.

Content Organization

Content will consist of mathematics lessons for middle school students. It will be organized by

topic and in groups for ease of use of the product. Lessons will be colorful and informative, yet


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short (no more than 10 minutes) to catch and keep the attention of students. The learning

environment will be personalized and noninvasive. Assessments will be based on the lesson only

and presented in a way as to encourage the student with the information they have learned.

Content Sources

The Alabama Course of Study for Mathematics, Bulletin 2003, No. 4

Lessons and content will be reviewed by the subject matter experts on the design team and

additional source materials will be reviewed and include any additional research necessary.

Though content will be based on the source, lesson examples and style will be original.

Instructional Strategies

The program will include three portions of content: the pretest, lesson, and posttest. In some

instances, more than one lesson will need to be reviewed. The typical sequence of event upon

login will be:

- Introductory page with teacher lesson assignments- Choice of lesson to begin with (click on choice)- 10-question pretest on the lesson selected- Score on pretest and lessons needing review- Video lessonsstudents will view the lessons assigned and at the end of the lesson have

the option of replaying the lesson, moving on, or saving the lesson to the computer or

playlist

- 10-question posttest- Score on posttest and approval to next lesson or request to review lesson again

Help The Help function will send the student to another page with FAQs and information on how

to use different functions of the program. Tutorials on how to use the site will be the main

feature in the help section.

Glossary The glossary will be included on a separate page for the student to review words they

do not know. For each topic, glossary terms will be discussed at the beginning and end of the

lesson and listed as Words 2 Know.

Links In addition to the lessons and tests, there will be a page with links to other sites with games

and interactivities for students and parents or teachers to use to get students more involved in

math and the fun applications that can be associated with it. Links will be to sponsored programswith expressed written consent of the owners and approval from the client before inclusion.

Standards

The website will maintain the highest level of standards for educational purposes. Graphics and

animations will be used for student attention, but content will be the main focus. The name of the

program,Mastering Math, will be included on every page. A link to the clients site will also be


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included at the bottom of every page. All copyright, registered trademark, or other legal aspect

assigned to any information provided on the site will be displayed and strictly adhered to for

every mention.

Content will be written at an elementary level so that the student will be able to easily

navigate their way through the site on their own. Graphics and captions will be used copiously

throughout the site. Blocks of text or content will be avoided.

Media

Audio narration will be the major tool of learning implementation. Narration will be conducted

in female voice. Text will be included on the videos in PowerPoint format to enhance the lesson

format without being the actual script of the lesson.

Video instruction will run with graphics and examples of the lesson topics. Once played,

the videos will run once. They can be paused or rewound as necessary during the course of the

lesson. They will also have the option of being saved for viewing without the website. Copyright

information will be sure to be presented at the end of the lesson to preclude infringement.

Evaluation, Usability, and Testing

Evaluation of the website will be conducted by the design team first using members of the team

and then using a randomly selected group of students to rate the program and lessons.

Since this is a program created to improve student success in a course that they have

difficulty with, the lessons will be easy to use and follow. No materials will be needed, i.e.

workbooks, at this time unless feedback reports come back with a request for hard copy

materials. At that time we will review options with the client.

The program will be tested on computer desktops and laptops. Downloading of the video

lessons to portable devices will be tested as well. A prototype will be presented for use by theclient and a random sample population of students.

Online Programs

Interface and navigation

Site needs to include side bar and tabs (top and bottom) for different computer users

Navigation will work through hyperlinks

Steps will be provided for progression through the course

Development tools

Standard website development tools will be used. Free courseware, i.e. Moodle, will be

used for ease of program production, creation, and updates. Implications for design

include prior knowledge of computer programming on the part of the designer and ability

to learn and adapt to software adaptations.

Delivery platform


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Windows XP will be the delivery platform (Windows 7 not compatible with many

computers). Site will be able to run in Explorer, Firefox, Safari, and Linux. Lessons will

be in podcast format and available to download to mp3 player or other portable media

device for review at any time. Implications for instructional designer include planning for

incompatibility and troubleshooting.

Usability

Testing will be done using a random sampling of students using a prototype.

Documents

Williams - Design Document