This report allows your SIG to assess what youve learned about the assets of your assigned neighborhood or interest-based group.This report is also an opportunity for your SIG to dig into the history of the neighborhood or a particular interest group to inform your group understanding. This report includes SIG visits 1,2, and 3, not the 4th one. As you think about how to divide up this work among yourselves, remember to draw on each others strengths and expertise. Just like we are observing and identifying strengths and expertise in our larger community, we can also support each other within this learning space.
The point of the report is to reflect on the different locations you have been to online, and put them in relation to each other and in relation to the learning opportunities you have discovered while conducting observations. The Report should draw conclusions about the learning experiences here based on our course topics and readings. You should also think deeply about the strengths of the community spaces you have visited by detailing the contributions and/or role the places offer for participants in the online learning space,, especially as the strengths relate to teaching and learning.
Write- up Details
Because each group is a little bit different in size and scope (i.e., some might have a mentor), the length of this paper should be 10-13ages, 12-point font, single-spaced, Times New Roman or Arial font. Use APA citation formats and include a reference page (not part of the page-length requirements). Its okay to have more than one person working on different sections–this is encouraged. In fact, it is highly recommended that every person reads the whole paper before it is submitted for assessment regardless of what parts you work on together.
The following are suggestions for how you might think about sectioning your Write-up:
Introduction – This section sets up the paper-in-whole. The introduction previews the connections between our course themes and the site Visits you have been to, and it also lays out terms you will be using to describe the teaching and learning you are analyzing later in the report. This section is the roadmap for the rest of the paper. So, make sure we know what neighborhood you are assigned and the places you have visited. It should name the main purpose of your paper with a clear thesis statement. (1 page)
Socio-historical Context – Its important to provide information about the places in the neighborhood where you have been conducting site visits. This will require some research beyond the readings we have completed in class. Use your own citations! Please provide a brief summary of the histories of each place that your group visited (e.g. which community built the place for what purpose in the beginning? How have the places developed over time?). And, please write about how the sites youve visited relate to the social history of broader context like the city. Please keep this section brief. You will have opportunities to expand with individual final projects (1-2page).
Explanation of Learning Theories – In this section, you will EXPLAIN and DEFINE in detail the learning theories you are using from our course readings and discussions. Pick at least 4 learning theories. This could take different forms depending on how you set up your argument. Maybe there are different kinds of learning theories that appear across the sites youve been to, or maybe there are multiple examples of a specific theory you are interested in exploring. Maybe, even, you want to combine multiple theories to explain something new that hasnt been discussed in our readings. Do NOT reference your experiences here yet. Limit to the descriptions of the theories. Use citations! (2-3 pages)
Roles and Methods for Forming Ideas – Here you should detail the ways each of your group members worked together to create this report. How did you work together to come up with ideas about learning in your assigned neighborhood? What sorts of observational skills were important for you to use? It should explain how you collected data (so think about field notes and digital media). How did you review the data from your Site Visits together? (2 pages)
Interpreting Your Experiences – In this section you get to give us your interpretation of learning in online about non-classroom settings! You should provide specific examples of learning activities you observed and/or participated in during your site visits and detail how they are examples of the learning theories you previously set-up in the paper. This section can either be really straightforward or hectic since your group members will have different experiences. Make sure that each group member reads each others site visit memos, and understand how other people are interpreting their experiences. You must select experiences to include in the report together, and agree on how to connect with specific learning theories from authors in the class readings. Please read and use your site visit memos to gain insights from your group members experience. However, please do NOT copy & paste your site visit memos word for word (3-4 pages).
*People working on purple sections (Explanation of learning theories & Interpreting your experiences ) must work together to have alignment. What theories are you using to interpret different experiences? You must reference the same theories that you defined in the Explanation of Learning Theories section in the Interpreting your Experiences section.
Implications & Conclusions – The last section should remind us about your overall purpose for developing these Site Visits. Think of this as the So What? of the paper. Why should we experience learning in places beyond the traditional classroom and in these online spaces? Why is it important for this neighborhood and for other interest groups to understand the role of these places within their community? Also, this section should discuss ideas and plans for sharing back what you learned and for maintaining lasting relationships with the communities you visited. (1 page)
