Author: Finn

Reviewed: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1gGpggyed62Awsu5DVhmhc6d_nYV_XlY81ozTvD9u6gs/edit

Peers’ Names: Guancong lance li, M Shaafi Jahangir, Haozhi Wang, Zhongjie Chen

Interactive Learning Resource Topic:  Family Finance

Identify components of the Interactive Learning Resource that might be missing (e.g., appropriate outcomes, alignment, interactivity, inclusivity, technology use and rationale, presentation, grammar, spelling, citations, etc.).

This learning resource places a heavy emphasis on the use of Microsoft Excel for the budget portion of its work, however it doesn’t seem to offer an introduction or review of the software. Most of the information seems to be oriented towards teaching financial knowledge which is great, however for students who do not know how to use certain aspects of the technology such as Excel it might be a challenge to complete this learning resource. This could easily be changed by requiring a prerequisite knowledge of Excel to join the course, or adding a small review section on how it will be used within the course.

Provide a summary of The Interactive Learning Resource’s strengths and weaknesses. Draw out specific examples from your peers’ work to justify your feedback.

The bulk of the content in this learning resource around financial knowledge is great and very informative. There is a solid foundation of content around financial concepts such as investments, insurance and portfolio saving which students can read through or learn from in the zoom lectures, and this is probably the strong point of the resource. This resource also has some great ideas for assessment, such as the peer review portfolio, however the way in which these concepts for feedback are to be implemented is not clear. With a technical topic such as finance it is important to give assessment frequently and so i think that you should work to focus and fine tune the assessment portion of the resource.

Provide general, specific, and practical recommendations to your peers on how to improve their Interactive Learning Resources.

Since your draft was a summary, it is slightly difficult to give feedback on the interactive component of the resource, however I can make some suggestions based on how it was described. I think it would be a good idea for students to work on their budget project from the very start of the resource. This way, they are able to apply their knowledge to the project incrementally as they acquire new concepts surrounding budgeting. This could be done by starting with a very basic concept in the project such as setting up the framework within Excel, and slowly adding to the project throughout.

One of the biggest challenges of creating a learning resource is making it accessible for every student, and with our educational guide on cooking, it is perhaps the greatest challenge. Since we are teaching a skill which is hands-on rather than conceptual, the asynchronous approach to teaching we are taking, and the mediums we are using provide a bit of a roadblock. Because of this, we have decided to try and create a diverse set of mediums within the greater context of our learning resource so as to provide a wide variety of materials that will hopefully capture all learning profiles. The use of text, video, narration, and step by step guides will hopefully not only make it universally accessible for all types of learners, but will also help keep things interesting. Since our course is online and asynchronous, we have borrowed ideas from its structure such as the implementation of blocks of learning, and links to external resources in an attempt to replicate the university style of asynchronous learning which has taken place since COVID. The challenge of the diversity of learning styles is much harder to accommodate to in a self paced environment, however with the implementation of multiple mediums and approaches to teaching, it should make it much less of a daunting task.

Among the various forms of teaching, direct instruction is likely the method most familiar to students in university, as it makes up the majority of our education from childhood to graduation. Direct instruction is utilized by teachers to form a clear and concise pathway for students to learn along. This is done through the creation of a defined curriculum which guides students towards building upon their knowledge in the specific area of study. Despite its use of clearly set guidelines, direct instruction must be used in a robust manner, so that students of all levels are able to keep up with the curriculum. This means that it for direct instruction to work properly, adaptations must be made on an individual basis so as to help students keep on track with the advancements made as the curriculum gets harder. There is a combined approach of slowly introducing new material while rigorously reviewing content so as to reinforce the knowledge into the minds of students. In relation to our project on cooking, direct instruction can be used by us to teach complex topics such as nutrition in a manner which is inclusive for all learning speeds. Seeing as we will be doing a blog style learning guide, students will be able to move through material at their own speed, and extra resources are included so as to benefit those who have advanced through the information faster than others. In combination with other methodologies, direct instruction provides a great tool for our group to design with in the creation of our learning guide.