Effectiveness of Strategies employed for Character Education Through E-Pedagogy

In this thread, we will be looking at the way we want to test the efficacy of the strategies that we may want to review. It would be more or less a discussion on the ways we want to design a lesson around the use of E-Pedagogy and Character Education. This could be in the form of observational study, empirical statistics in the form of qualitative or quantitative experimental design. Do feel free to discuss how we can test the efficacy of each pedagogy and explore the possible shortfalls, and most importantly whether we can overcome these shortfalls and make it usable data to refer to.

The discussion may or may not rest on statistical terminologies, but not to worry, do share what your concerns are and / or clarify the discussions and terminologies if you have any doubts. I am sure the community will be able to share and elaborate. Lets work collaboratively.

I am wondering how we want to measure the efficacy of this approach and most importantly, whether we can really measure this accurately and reliably. The things i have on my mind would be the fact that character education, unlike IP may take a long time to internalise and manifest itself. Usually, it is severely tested during moments of crisis and there is where we see the true character of a person. i.e., in the 9/11 incident, we see the selflessness and strength as well as courage of many to stand up and be counted, to help those around them even if it meant getting hurt or killed.

For a start, i think we can measure: content knowledge (Head), observe with some clarity how they feel (Heart - through reflections) and maybe observe actions (hands) that student exhibits.

But are these true reflections or just the things the kids want us to hear?
Any suggestions to test the effectiveness of lessons and interventions?
Can it be immediate after an intervention or does it have to wait for the lesson (intervention) to be internalised and practiced?

For me, I think before even thinking about e-pedagogy, the main issue to grapple with is the adoption of the e-platform (SLS in our case). In my own IP subject, though I put all my lessons in SLS, I realised very few bothered to go online to learn, despite physical nagging in class.
Is it because they dont have the habit, or they dont have the connection means, I am not sure.

ElkanLam wrote:For me, I think before even thinking about e-pedagogy, the main issue to grapple with is the adoption of the e-platform (SLS in our case). In my own IP subject, though I put all my lessons in SLS, I realised very few bothered to go online to learn, despite physical nagging in class.
Is it because they dont have the habit, or they dont have the connection means, I am not sure.

Good point!!!
I agree that this is a very real issue. I am also wondering how we can do this. I have heard of some institutions or organisations that hard jolt the community into using a particular platform through compulsion. i.e., instead of weaning them off, organisations force people to use newer platforms by suddenly removing totally the use of the previous platforms. Other organisations use a gradual change / transition into the new platform. But this has its problems as well as people tend to procrastinate. just think of the Malaysian VEP issue. But this is a curriculum so i think if we were to force people with a sudden move, it may end up with chaos to monitoring and tracking.

I guess one of the things we have to do is to find out what are the real challenges to accessing the platform. Is it hardware related? Do students have the necessary equipment in school and/or at home to access the platform? Some students do not have handphones or laptops at home. So they may have to use the available hardware in school.

Or is it the software and accessibility issues? Wifi bandwidth cannot support in school. Forgot passwords, log in challenges or no data access at home etc. If we are able to find out, can we do something about this? i.e., make the wifi support in school faster? easier log in? assistance to log in matters. Are students satisfied with the IT support in school? Can we make things easier?

Interesting starting point.........

Something that the community can think about is the encouragement for our students to use this platform. Should we use the carrot or the stick or should we give them rewards to entice them. Extrinsic? Intrinsic? Which works better?

Thanks Elkan! Good start!!

I think in the age of life long learning and increasing competition for time motivation becomes a salient issue. Students need to be more intrinsically motivated in the absence of more formal structure. Online learning environment typically embrace many choices in ways in which material is presented and interaction with students supported in individual or collaborative contexts. As such, it is imperative that we understand the implications of various learning activities and technologies on aspect on intrinsic motivation of elearning. Learning activities such as audio, video must be well supported by technology.
My 2cents worth...

Aliciakho wrote:I think in the age of life long learning and increasing competition for time  motivation becomes a salient issue. Students need to be more intrinsically motivated in the absence of more formal structure.  Online learning environment typically embrace many choices in ways in which material is presented and interaction with students supported  in individual or collaborative contexts. As such, it is imperative that we understand the implications of various learning activities and technologies on aspect on intrinsic motivation of elearning. Learning activities such as audio, video must be well supported by technology.
My 2cents worth...

Another interesting insight and comment. Really appreciate you guys taking the time to respond and contribute your ideas.

Can i dare say then, Alicia, that to get the students started, we need to know how to motivate them intrinsically? Are there ways to do this?

Hey hey......i saw Elkan launch a CCE lesson through SLS to 1N2!!! Good Job Elkan!!

Do let us know how it went? What were some of the challenges faced and whether it was something that resulted in a change in the students.

Good job!! Carry on with the good work people.

Copyrighted by ETD FB Site SG Learning Design Circle

This is quite an interesting powerpoint slide by SG Learning Design Circle.  Should we design a lesson on this premise? So straight forward meh? Who wanna try with me? I pick any class?

John, paiseh, didnt manage to conduct that segment of the CCE lesson as much time was spent trying to get my class to activate JYmail and log in SLS.
Initially pulled the plug on that lesson, but hey, since u commented, let me conduct that during nugget time tomorrow and see what happens.

John Lim CC wrote:

Copyrighted by ETD FB Site SG Learning Design Circle

This is quite an interesting powerpoint slide by SG Learning Design Circle.  Should we design a lesson on this premise? So straight forward meh? Who wanna try with me? I pick any class?

This looks like a good starting point for us!! Additionally, I do agree with Alicia on the issue of motivation, as well as time management. Just a thought...would it be feasible for the lesson to be conducted during a common stipulated time, so as to ensure consistency of the "results" collected?

ElkanLam wrote:John, paiseh, didnt manage to conduct that segment of the CCE lesson as much time was spent trying to get my class to activate JYmail and log in SLS.
Initially pulled the plug on that lesson, but hey, since u commented, let me conduct that during nugget time tomorrow and see what happens.

Statistics #1: 9 out of 40 students have no devices in class.

Statistics #2: As time is tight due to temperature taking, not all students have the response time to finish the assignment.


My reflections:
1) Using SLS in classroom, be prepared for blended learning as there will be some students without devices. I printed hard copies for these people so they wont miss out, or drag the lesson by sharing device with buddy.

2) Do cater for longer response time as some will encounter difficulty (IT issues?) last minute. (ie. 2 students last minute ask to reset password)

To find out:
Will students go in again to complete the lesson on their own without being nagged at to do so (self-directed learning)? I will check back the statistics tomorrow.

ElkanLam wrote:

ElkanLam wrote:John, paiseh, didnt manage to conduct that segment of the CCE lesson as much time was spent trying to get my class to activate JYmail and log in SLS.
Initially pulled the plug on that lesson, but hey, since u commented, let me conduct that during nugget time tomorrow and see what happens.

Statistics #1: 9 out of 40 students have no devices in class.

Statistics #2: As time is tight due to temperature taking, not all students have the response time to finish the assignment.


My reflections:
1) Using SLS in classroom, be prepared for blended learning as there will be some students without devices. I printed hard copies for these people so they wont miss out, or drag the lesson by sharing device with buddy.

2) Do cater for longer response time as some will encounter difficulty (IT issues?) last minute. (ie. 2 students last minute ask to reset password)

To find out:
Will students go in again to complete the lesson on their own without being nagged at to do so (self-directed learning)? I will check back the statistics tomorrow.

That's really a challenge for all of us teachers. Everyone is different. And we have different type of students. Also the time is tight as Elkan has mentioned. So now, maybe something we can think about.

1. Try out the lesson at home as a home based learning so that students have time to run through the questions. (granted, there is no supervision, but that can be a topic on its own altogether as a challenge and possibility that it is a variable that we cannot control and will not consider)
2. Try out simple motivation of getting a star when they try this quiz out and when they collect enough stars as a group, we can reward the group at the end of a month or term. It encourages group work and interaction at the same time, social responsibility to egg each one on.

Thanks Elkan for considering this. Let me also try out something that we can measure so that we can put a few trials on the table as pilots to see how we can fine tune.

Thanks all for answering the call to talk more.

Tanbf wrote:

This is quite an interesting powerpoint slide by SG Learning Design Circle.  Should we design a lesson on this premise? So straight forward meh? Who wanna try with me? I pick any class?

This looks like a good starting point for us!! Additionally, I do agree with Alicia on the issue of motivation, as well as time management. Just a thought...would it be feasible for the lesson to be conducted during a common stipulated time, so as to ensure consistency of the "results" collected? [/quote]

Hehehehehe, i can sense the following appearing soon.....ANOVA,ANCOVA,MANCOVA.......Chi and T Test.........hurhurhurhurhur.......

H:0
H:1

Thanks BF, thats a good thought......

ElkanLam wrote:

ElkanLam wrote:John, paiseh, didnt manage to conduct that segment of the CCE lesson as much time was spent trying to get my class to activate JYmail and log in SLS.
Initially pulled the plug on that lesson, but hey, since u commented, let me conduct that during nugget time tomorrow and see what happens.

Statistics #1: 9 out of 40 students have no devices in class.

Statistics #2: As time is tight due to temperature taking, not all students have the response time to finish the assignment.


My reflections:
1) Using SLS in classroom, be prepared for blended learning as there will be some students without devices. I printed hard copies for these people so they wont miss out, or drag the lesson by sharing device with buddy.

2) Do cater for longer response time as some will encounter difficulty (IT issues?) last minute. (ie. 2 students last minute ask to reset password)

To find out:
Will students go in again to complete the lesson on their own without being nagged at to do so (self-directed learning)? I will check back the statistics tomorrow.

After 1 week, the lesson is closed. No extra extrinsic motivation is given, but apparently there are enough intrinsic motivation for some of them to complete at home.
Hence the increase in %completed:

Tried another SLS blended nugget lesson in class today.

As it is self-crafted (not based on the contents from the values lessons MOE package), I can better estimate the length of the lesson.
There is better completion rate:
21 completed lesson, 19 not completed (out of which, 11 using hard copy, 2 absentees)


Without giving extrinsic motivation, I will check back if the 2 absentees and 6 present who have not completed today, will finish by tomorrow.

Reflection:
1) For me, this blended lesson kills 2 birds with 1 stone to see how many of my students are ready for HBL. I am glad today nobody mentioned he/she has forgotten the SLS password.
2) Online lesson can capture responses from those normally quiet students who wont raise hands to volunteer and answer teacher's questions in class.

John Lim CC wrote:I am wondering how we want to measure the efficacy of this approach and most importantly, whether we can really measure this accurately and reliably. The things i have on my mind would be the fact that character education, unlike IP may take a long time to internalise and manifest itself. Usually, it is severely tested during moments of crisis and there is where we see the true character of a person. i.e., in the 9/11 incident, we see the selflessness and strength as well as courage of many to stand up and be counted, to help those around them even if it meant getting hurt or killed.

For a start, i think we can measure: content knowledge (Head), observe with some clarity how they feel (Heart - through reflections) and maybe observe actions (hands) that student exhibits.

But are these true reflections or just the things the kids want us to hear?
Any suggestions to test the effectiveness of lessons and interventions?
Can it be immediate after an intervention or does it have to wait for the lesson (intervention) to be internalised and practiced?

May I clarify, we wish to measure the efficacy of "this approach" meaning e-pedagogy? or we are discussing the measurement of character education?