COETAIL--Final Project Course 1--Global Issues Debate Prep Unit
The final project for Course 1 of the COETAIL course was to create a unit planner using the UbD approach of backward design.
I teach at a Japanese university and one of my six content-based courses is a Global Issues course in the Advanced English program that I teach via debate. I have taught this particular course for three years now, tweaking it each year, but this past fall, as the class entered the culminating Public Forum Debate unit of the course, I began to identify some serious problems. I realized that my students were not collaborating enough in their debate preparation so that during the debates they weren't functioning as a team, but merely presenting their own individual points. I also noticed that they were short on evidence to support their reasons and this led to debate rounds in which students stopped talking before their allotted time ended. Further, I realized that students lacked a depth of understanding of the topic, which resulted in an inability to refute even easily refutable points made by the opposition team. It was clear to me that students needed to better guided through English-language preparation for debate. I was glad to have a chance to design this Global Issues Debate Preparation Unit integrating technology for sharing and collaboration.
Here is my UbD Unit Planner: Global Issues Debate Preparation Unit, also embedded below--which, apologies, doesn't quite work in this blog, set up as it is in long skinny mode--maybe time for a blog design revamp?
My aim is to include this unit in my Global Issues course next fall. Hurdles will be encountered in introducing the technology in my non 1-1 university environment where students rarely bring a laptop or tablet to class, but I will try to reserve a language or computer lab for the weeks dedicated to this unit or will have to create a work-around. This would be my first time to use Edmodo with a class and Diigo as collaborative classroom tools. I envision spending four weeks on this unit (one 90-minute class per week). I know there will be a learning curve for me and for the students, but my hope is that these tools will enable them to share resources, collaborate in gathering and organizing debate evidence both inside and outside of class, become effective judges of arguments, share reflections on the experience with the class, and to ultimately grow as global citizens.
This was my first time using this particular template to develop a unit. While I was comfortable and familiar with the "backwards" approach of planning--determining the essential questions and enduring understandings first--I was less confident in creating a unit that uses tools that I am still learning how to use myself and in deciding what belongs in the GRASPS section and what belongs in the Six Facets of Understanding section. I look forward to feedback from COETAIL folk and others!
I teach at a Japanese university and one of my six content-based courses is a Global Issues course in the Advanced English program that I teach via debate. I have taught this particular course for three years now, tweaking it each year, but this past fall, as the class entered the culminating Public Forum Debate unit of the course, I began to identify some serious problems. I realized that my students were not collaborating enough in their debate preparation so that during the debates they weren't functioning as a team, but merely presenting their own individual points. I also noticed that they were short on evidence to support their reasons and this led to debate rounds in which students stopped talking before their allotted time ended. Further, I realized that students lacked a depth of understanding of the topic, which resulted in an inability to refute even easily refutable points made by the opposition team. It was clear to me that students needed to better guided through English-language preparation for debate. I was glad to have a chance to design this Global Issues Debate Preparation Unit integrating technology for sharing and collaboration.
Here is my UbD Unit Planner: Global Issues Debate Preparation Unit, also embedded below--which, apologies, doesn't quite work in this blog, set up as it is in long skinny mode--maybe time for a blog design revamp?
My aim is to include this unit in my Global Issues course next fall. Hurdles will be encountered in introducing the technology in my non 1-1 university environment where students rarely bring a laptop or tablet to class, but I will try to reserve a language or computer lab for the weeks dedicated to this unit or will have to create a work-around. This would be my first time to use Edmodo with a class and Diigo as collaborative classroom tools. I envision spending four weeks on this unit (one 90-minute class per week). I know there will be a learning curve for me and for the students, but my hope is that these tools will enable them to share resources, collaborate in gathering and organizing debate evidence both inside and outside of class, become effective judges of arguments, share reflections on the experience with the class, and to ultimately grow as global citizens.
This was my first time using this particular template to develop a unit. While I was comfortable and familiar with the "backwards" approach of planning--determining the essential questions and enduring understandings first--I was less confident in creating a unit that uses tools that I am still learning how to use myself and in deciding what belongs in the GRASPS section and what belongs in the Six Facets of Understanding section. I look forward to feedback from COETAIL folk and others!
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