Design Proposal: NGAkids and Wikispaces Classroom for Learners 1

Design Proposal: NGAkids (National Gallery of the Arts) and Wikispaces Classroom for

Collaborative Learning between Brick-and-Mortar Elementary Students and Remote Elementary

Students

Dana Mehregani

Laurie Petrucci

Martina Seo

The Design of Technology-Supported Learning Environments

ETEC 510

Dr. Diane Janes

February 15, 2015

Design Proposal: NGAkids and Wikispaces Classroom for Learners 2

Table of Contents

Key Frameworks..3

Intentions and Positions...6

Key Concepts and Contexts.......10

Interactivities..13

Verifications...15

References..17
Design Proposal: NGAkids and Wikispaces Classroom for Learners 3

Key Frameworks

1. What is the focus of your design project?

The focus is to create an online art resource for remote learners and for elementary

students (Grades 4-7) who do not have access to a regular arts classroom. This project is also

intended to be used by teachers of elementary students who have limited access to resources to

support their arts curriculum. The project is also aimed at developing student knowledge of

classical and contemporary art through NGAkids Online and at having students demonstrate their

knowledge through Wikispaces Classroom. NGAKids Online offers an entertaining and

informative introduction to art and to art history, and Wikispaces Classroom provides a social

writing platform for teachers and for children. In short, the design principle is aimed at providing

remote learners and school students with the opportunity to share their work, to collaborate on

projects, and to build a repository of art resources and student-produced artifacts. Altogether,

remote learners and school students would study art and art history though NGAKids Online and

participate in Wikispaces Classroom.

2. How are you situating your design activities in the academic literature?

The concepts of knowledge communities, communities of learners, and knowledge-

building communities have origins in constructivist theory, and apply directly to this part of the

designs collaborative space. Appropriate to our project is the idea of community, specifically

knowledge-building communities. In their discussion of communities of practice and situativity

theories, Barab and Duffy (2000) concluded that the key to creating a community is linking into

society giving the students a legitimate role in society through community participation and

membership (p. 49). Art, a form of human artistic expression, inspires human emotions,

thoughts, and feelings. By way of participation in the art wiki, remote learners and elementary
Design Proposal: NGAkids and Wikispaces Classroom for Learners 4

students would share their work, make connections with the world around them and with each

other, and produce an online community that would build collective knowledge. It is hoped that

the art wiki community might serve as a model for intercultural interaction and for desired

behaviour in larger society (i.e., linking into society). In addition, the design proposal would be

based on the constructivist approach (i.e., Piaget and Vygotskian sociocultural based learning) to

student learning by way of inclusion and communities of learning. Here, remote learners and

elementary students would develop the learning community. That is, both groups would relate

the activities in the modules to their own identities and create the learning environment together,

thus producing an inclusive learning-teaching environment.

3. What and whose ideas about learning and learning environments are relevant?

Based on Piaget, Vygotsky, the 21st century learner (BC Ministry of Education), and

Universal Design for Learning (UDL), the intent of the design project is to (a) develop a sense of

art appreciation for remote learners and elementary students, (b) offer a constructive

environment so that remote learners and elementary students can showcase their personalities

through their artistic work, (c) introduce remote learners and elementary students to an online

collaborative space, (d) provide remote learners and elementary students an opportunity to study

art and art history from an online site designed for children, and (e) have remote learners and

elementary students produce online art resources in the form of an art wiki in order to learn about

art and art history, using NGAKids Online.

4. What and whose theoretical insights and perspectives frame your thinking about the particular

group of learners your project targets?

Students who live in remote areas or who are homeschooled might not be familiar with

the rules and the norms of a traditional school environment. Here, these students would be the
Design Proposal: NGAkids and Wikispaces Classroom for Learners 5

minority. From their research on virtual learning communities and members from minority

groups or individuals who are socially excluded, Lalueza, Bria, Crespo, Sanchez and Luque

(2004) state that, When the members minority ethnic group with little power to attend the

school, they find themselves in a world in which the rules, language, relationships, and

objectives of the activity are far removed from their own (pp. 18-19). In our project, the

learning community would be constructed by the remote learners and the elementary students.

Here, they would relate the activities in the modules to their identity and create the learning

environment collaboratively and cooperatively.

5. How are you framing the primary educational activities?

The intention of our project is to be an inclusive learning environment. In their discussion

of guidelines to the characteristics of a non-exclusive system of teaching and learning, Lalueza

and her colleagues state that, what is required is a model that recognizes the existence of a

range of socio-historical contexts that provide different sets of meanings what is required is a

model of participation in which the process of teaching and learning would be explicitly

negotiated, and where the meaning would be constructed as a result of the experience acquired

and educational practice (p. 21). Here, we will work to design an online environment by letting

the remote learners and the elementary students participate collectively in order to organize the

resources that they consider to be relevant to the activities in the modules. The remote learners

and the elementary students would develop shared meanings as they create wiki pages in order to

generate collective knowledge about art. With the support and the assistance of teacher-

facilitators, remote learners and elementary students would decide on appropriate language when

blogging about artwork and peer artifacts. A code of language would be published on the art wiki

as a reference.
Design Proposal: NGAkids and Wikispaces Classroom for Learners 6

6. How are you framing the use of educational media?

In our design, we plan to give remote learners and elementary students a number of

activities through a series of modules that would facilitate participation in the art wiki

community. The art wiki community would be comprised of remote learners and elementary

students throughout British Columbia and the Yukon Territory, and, if feasible, perhaps

throughout Canada. The art wiki would connect remote learners to each other as well as to

elementary students from any classroom of any school.

Intentions and Positions

1. What do you intend to accomplish by means of this design?

Our main objective is to provide an online elementary art resource for teachers and

homeschooling parents who live in remote, rural areas. Due to their geographical locations, most

of these educators would not otherwise have access to any type of art class resource; therefore it

is essential to create such a resource for educators. There are many benefits to having an online

elementary art resource for educators. Firstly, we would provide convenience to educators to

access the resources at anytime and anywhere they are in front of a computer and Internet

(Coleman, 2015). Having the choice to access the resource when they are the most productive

instead of having to drive to a workshop, class or conference, the educators could access the

resources at their leisure. Secondly, we would give the control to the instructors on how they

would use the resource to educate their students. They could customize materials that best

accommodate their students learning process and outcome with the course materials (Coleman,

2015). Thirdly, we would offer an interactive online community with an online instructor

guiding the teacher or homeschooling parent through the materials and global peers who they can

communicate with what worked for them and what did not with their students (Coleman, 2015).
Design Proposal: NGAkids and Wikispaces Classroom for Learners 7

By having an online community that is diverse and international, educators using the resource

would have access to various other teachers with different experiences from around the globe.

Fourthly, by having an online resource, we would deliver a cheaper rate than attending classes,

workshops or conferences in major cities that the educators would have to travel and attend to

(Poisso, 2013). Through having an online resource at a discounted rate, educators would save a

lot of money for their school district in acquiring essential lesson and unit plans. But most

importantly, the visual arts are an essential form of communication, indispensable to inquiry

and expression (Ministry of Education, Province of British Columbia). It is said children

draw, paint, build, and model in order to interact with their environment and create images that

express their understanding of the world (Ministry of Education, Province of British Columbia).

In conclusion, students need to have the ability to learn about how to express themselves through

visual images and gain knowledge to appreciate the visual arts. When we provide online

resource to the rural, remote educators, we are helping to develop student image-development

and design processes. The materials will help nurture purposeful and inventive activities-using

a variety of materials, technologies, and processes-to organize elements according to the

principles of design (Ministry of Education, Province of British Columbia).

2. What does scholarship in Education have to say about placing value on this particular cluster

of goals?

Scholarship in Education places value on our cluster of goals by how we are using

Universal Design for Learning and Blooms taxonomy. Universal design for learning (UDL) is

a framework that guides the development of curricula and instructional practice based upon the

needs of students (CAST 2013; Rose & Meyer, 2002), therefore creating an online elementary

art resource, we are able to provide a lesson and unit plans for the needs of the remote, rural
Design Proposal: NGAkids and Wikispaces Classroom for Learners 8

geographically located parents, teachers and students. Also, UDL involves designing a

curriculum in ways that offer students more autonomy and personalisation by scaffolding

difficult content or allowing students to express what they have learned in different formats

(Meo, 2008). With a teacher or parent guiding them through the online art resource, the students

are able to learn about art and express themselves in their work. Through Blooms taxonomy,

students will utilize their cognitive domain deals with the recall or recognition of knowledge

and the development of intellectual abilities, affective domain concerns attitudes, beliefs,

emotional responses, and the spectrum of values and value systems and psychomotor domain

includes those aspects of learning associated with movement and skill demonstration, and

integrates the cognitive and affective consequences with physical performances while being

guided through the online elementary art resource curricula (Ministry of Education, 2010). The

British Columbia Ministry of Education states The visual arts are an essential form of

communication, indispensable to inquiry and expression. From an early age, children draw,

paint, build, and model in order to interact with their environment and create images that express

their understanding of the world. Visual arts education builds on these experiences, providing

opportunities for all students to perceive, respond to, and create images, and to communicate

through them. Through these processes, students become aware of the ideas and emotions

expressed in visual images and gain the knowledge, skills, and attitudes needed to engage in and

appreciate the visual arts throughout their lives. Our resource would be fulfilling these

requirements and delivering a curricula and instructions to the teacher or parent to educate their

students to reach their learning outcomes.

3. What might be a counter-argument to placing value on this particular set of outcomes?

Design Proposal: NGAkids and Wikispaces Classroom for Learners 9

There may be various issues and challenges with having an online elementary art class

resources. To begin with, if teachers and parents are not very experienced with using a computer

and internet, they may find it difficult to navigate and understand the website. We would want

the resource website to be intuitive, but there are challenges having it online versus face-to-face

guidance. Also, if the educator or parent do not have a reliable computer or internet connection,

it could be very frustrating accessing the resource online. Another consideration would be an

online instructor to guide the teacher or parent, but it would be limited to office hours during the

week and if the teacher and parent are teaching the class in a different time zone or outside

business hours, they may have to wait to get feedback on what to do with the art lesson plan. An

additional problem may be If there is a package of physical art materials to be purchased locally

or from the website, they would have to learn how to assemble and use the materials for their

students. The educator would need to acquire paint, paper, clay and etc., but if the local supply

store does not carry the various items, it could be a challenge to teach the lessons. Due to the

fact the resources are online, it would be dependent on the diligence of the educators to use and

facilitate the lesson plans to their students. How would accountability and quality of the work be

assessed? Because there are not actual classes to attend for the resources, educators may miss

out on socializing and networking with peers or group studies. But, if the educator does not

speak English, it could be another issue. The website could be translated to various languages if

the initial sample teachers and parents are successful in completing the art classes.

4. How do the stated goals of your project fit, or not, with larger sets of goals (e.g., globalization,

a School District position paper, and so on)?

Our goals of our project fit well with the larger set of goals such as globalization because

it is an online elementary art resource created for rural, remote located educators and parents
Design Proposal: NGAkids and Wikispaces Classroom for Learners 10

who want to teach their student an art program. This resource would be excellent for teachers

who would not otherwise have access to elementary art class information. There would be an

online instructor to guide the teacher and parent through the lesson plans and learning outcomes

for their student. Because it is available online, the educator would be able to access the

materials anytime they are in front of a working computer and Internet. If the sample group of

teachers and parents succeed in using the resources, we could then translate the website to

various languages to make this an international resource for all teachers and parents who desire

to teach their student how to do classical art at the primary level. School districts could purchase

the resource at a discounted rate instead of flying out their teachers to workshops, classes and

conferences. There would be many benefits to go international with this resource once it put into

trial phrase, perfected and then executed at a larger scale. With the definite need to teach art

classes to students for their creative processes to remote, rural areas, this online elementary art

resource would enhance the cultural aspect of the world.

Key Concepts and Contexts

1. What is the knowledge (both conceptual know that, and procedural know how, that is the

focus of your design project?

Learning is a dynamic interaction between an individual and the physical and social

affordances and constraints of the learning environment (Rose & Fischer, 2009). Because our

design project is focussed on providing learning opportunities for students who cannot attend a

brick-and-mortar classroom for a variety of reasons including health, geography and other

constraints, it is imperative to design a learning platform that affords students with opportunities

for dynamic interaction with learning material. Hall, Meyer & Rose (2012) argue that including
Design Proposal: NGAkids and Wikispaces Classroom for Learners 11

arts options...can provide a rich range of unique and complex content, processes, and thinking

habits for valuing, understanding, and making meaning of the world (p.166).

Our design will provide a positive learning environment for students to socially,

academically and physically engage in art related activities. Students will develop their artistic

skills and techniques as well as develop participatory competency in working in online learning

spaces. Jenkins (2009) describes participatory culture as a culture with relatively low barriers

to artistic expression and civic engagement, strong support for creating and sharing creations,

and some type of informal mentorship whereby experienced participants pass along knowledge

to novices (page xi). Our online design format specifically lowers barriers to include students

who are unable to attend brick-and-mortar classrooms and provides a site for our geographically

isolated students to engage in civic engagement. While there are not necessarily expert

participants passing along knowledge to novices, there will be students who will naturally have

more confidence in creating and sharing art, and will therefore provide support to the more

hesitant artists.

2. What academic scholarship is relevant to thinking about this particular knowledge focus?

It is necessary for home learners to socially interact with other students and engage in

collaborative work.

A childs zone of proximal development is the distance between the level of his actual

development, determined with the help of a learning task performed independently, and

the level of a childs potential development, determined with the help of learning tasks

performed by the child under the guidance of adults and in collaboration with his

classmates. (Vygotsky, 1935, p. 42)

Design Proposal: NGAkids and Wikispaces Classroom for Learners 12

Fischer (2009) also emphasizes the need for collaboration among learners, social

interactions provide support that helps children act at higher levels than they are capable of by

themselves (p264). Our project is designed so that students will share content online and access

a peer created online arts repository. Bozhovich (2009) highlights that Collaboration is not

something that is used in isolation but a generalized name for a variety of techniques that help

uncover a childs potential abilities (p50). When students collaborate on projects, they all bring

their own levels of expertise to the activity and are able to create something they would not have

been able to create alone.

Peer interaction along with teacher instruction is necessary for students to be able to meet

learning outcomes. Therefore our design will allow students to engage in social peer-based

interactions, which includes sharing art work and ideas with others. Students will also have direct

teacher-based instruction via online access. In addition, students will be able to see what works

best in the context of visual arts and opportunities to improve by actively engaging in hands-on

art activities. They will also develop a greater appreciation for art and a broader understanding of

local and global art history and culture.

3. What is the context for your design project?

As educators who support 21 Century learning, we need to create learning opportunities

for students to enhance learning through the use of technology. According to the BC Ministry of

Education:

Students use educational technologies to apply knowledge to new situations, analyze

information, collaborate, solve problems, and make decisions. Utilizing emerging

technologies to provide expanded learning opportunities is critical to the success of

future generations.
Design Proposal: NGAkids and Wikispaces Classroom for Learners 13

4. What academic scholarship is relevant to thinking about this particular context?

We also need to provide opportunities for students to construct their own knowledge and

apply both innovative and creative ways to express themselves. Arts based activities lend

themselves well to meeting these learning goals. Piaget posed the following questions, Are we

forming children who are only capable of learning of what is already known? Or should we try to

develop creative and innovative minds capable of discovery from the preschool age on

throughout life? (Piaget on Piaget). Through the use of technology, students have expanded

learning opportunities for expressing creativity and actively engaging in their learning, whether it

is in the classroom context or at home.

Inter-activities

1. Explain what you plan to create in terms of dynamic objects for carrying out your designs in a

specific context.

By making art, students have the capacity to find their voice and express opinions,

feelings and statements in multiliteracy formats. New London Group (1996) highlight A

pedagogy of multiliteracies, by contrast, focuses on modes of representation much broader than

language alone However, students often find creating art challenging because they do not

believe that they are artists. Students need to build up their confidence by engaging in a

variety of artistic mediums to discover that anyone can make art in varying forms to express

themselves. As Glass (2013) describes, the biggest barrier for students participating in the

visual elements lesson was their belief that they were not capable of creating art (UDL and the

Arts Option, p.111). Therefore students need opportunities to engage in hands-on and

experiential learning to discover that anyone can produce art.

Design Proposal: NGAkids and Wikispaces Classroom for Learners 14

Our arts focus for this project will concentrate on using mediums related to Visual Arts.

Students will be able to access Arts curriculum mandated by the Ministry of BC. For example,

two of the learning outcomes for art education in Grade two outlines: 1) with teacher support,

identify each stage of the creative process (e.g., as part a class discussion) and 2) with teacher

support, demonstrate an understanding of why there are several stages within a creative process

(e.g., opportunities to explore various ideas to see what works best, opportunities to improve,

opportunities to think about why they made certain choices and what they would do differently

next time).

Our design project will include the following dynamic learning artifacts:

1) Student Activities within the Design for Learning Artifact :

a) Website to host learning activities - Wikispaces Classroom

b) Student portfolio to document learning

c) Blog posts to share ideas and experiences with others

d) Student participation in hands-on learning including sculpting, painting,

and video production

e) Art technique lessons

f) Access links to online art tour and art repository - NGAKids Online

2) Curriculum Guide:

The curriculum guide will include the following sections:

a) Purpose and Goals of the design space

b) User Guide - How to use the site/resources/digital objects

c) How to involve the parents to support their childs learning

d) Assessment Model
Design Proposal: NGAkids and Wikispaces Classroom for Learners 15

Verifications

1. What kind of verification activity would tell you if your designed educational environment

was working in the manner that you originally anticipated?

An art education program would need to include an activity that is predictable for remote

learners and for elementary students. That is, children in Grades 4-7 favour structure, and

develop confidence and competency when they know what to do explicitly and concretely. Thus,

such an art education program would have to be visual, structured, organized, consistent,

predictable, and accommodating, yet flexible. When structuring a verification art activity, it is

important to consider (a) the developmental age of the children, (b) the art genre that they prefer,

and (c) the ways in which these children can demonstrate their success and potential. Certainly,

short-term objectives and medium-term goals would need to be in place in order to guide the

potential abilities of these children.

2. How will you know if your design allows participants to accomplish the goals that you have

laid out?

Parker and Chao (2007) assert that wiki spaces, in general, allow users to work in a

collaborative and cooperative setting. As such, using wikis would allow remote learners and

elementary students to (a) develop and reflect on their learning and (b) assist and support the

learning of their peers. One benefit of wiki spaces, in general, is that users can use the tools and

the features easily and quickly. Solvie and Kloek (2007) also make the connection between

technology and the ability for students, for example, to develop and to reflect on their own

learning. Another benefit is that users have the online tools to produce and to support

knowledge-building connections (Grant, 2006). Here, remote learners and elementary students

would have the opportunity to interact with their peers outside of their physical space, be it at
Design Proposal: NGAkids and Wikispaces Classroom for Learners 16

home, in class, or elsewhere. Altogether, wiki spaces, in general, allows for greater interaction,

collaboration, and participation.

Design Proposal: NGAkids and Wikispaces Classroom for Learners 17

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