Please send this to anyone you know who might be interested.
For the last few months we have been working with the Khan Academy open source code base and helping schools integrate it with Moodle. Sal Khan does an excellent job describing his vision of how he hopes Khan Academy will impact teaching and learning in schools. We believe that integrating the Khan Academy platform into a learning management system supports those goals. Even so, doing the kind of “rich, deep open-ended learning projects” that Sal Khan describes (at the end of the following video) is not easy for teachers.
I’m looking for a partner to help me make some of these “rich, deep open-ended learning projects” available and easy for teachers to use in their classrooms.
The goal of this project is to address the some of the obstacles that teachers face, including the following:
- Need to spend classroom time on specific topics in the Math Common Core.
- Lack of time to find and prep for the project.
- Management of student work flow and access.
- Need for assessment of learning that is aligned to the Common Core.
Here is how I think we can help:
- Pick cool, achievable projects.
- Think though which math common core standards this project can help with.
- Match the project to the Khan Academy resources for those standards.
- Find other web resources (PBS videos, etc.)
- Think through the instructional design.
- Create a lesson structure in Moodle ( an open-source learning management system) that includes:
- Practicing math concepts that will be used in project before the project start.
- Instructions and videos on how to do the project.
- Scaffolding for reflection on the project.
- Practice using math concepts learned during the project.
- Additional assessments (the Moodle Quiz module provides many possibilities including open ended responses).
The idea is sort of like Instructables for teachers, aligned to standards and classroom ready including assessments.
With a bank of such lessons the teacher can choose a lesson based on standards they need to cover. Then in a few clicks they can be loaded into a Moodle course and ready to go in minutes. We can also provide a pdf version for teachers who don’t have access to Moodle.
I’d love to find someone from the maker community and/or a math or science teacher who wants to try this out. I think it’s fundable through Kickstarter so it wouldn’t have to be all volunteer.
About me: I’m a big open source/open content fan. I want to create solutions that will work in urban schools and afterschool programs by average teachers, with average administrators, with the average (high!) level of pressure on high-stakes tests. I don’t want to create something just for super star teachers working in enlightened and resource rich environments. I’m a pragmatist and I’m willing to make compromises.
I’m looking for someone with project ideas and hopefully experience creating lesson plans. No computer, Moodle or LMS experience needed.
I’d love to work with someone in the Boston area but I’m open to talking to people anywhere.
You can reach me at Caroline at SolutionGrove.com
Please pass this along to anyone you know who might be interested.
Thanks!!