Course Structure

Course Objectives
This document shows how the course aligns to the SGCS Technology Plan. Student objectives in the plan are aligned to the NETS-S

Course Elements
I created this document as an overview of the course and its key elements.

Course Structure-
I created this infographic to handout at our open house to give parents an overview of how I structured the course.




Grading
Grading was one of my biggest challenges for this course. Although I feel feedback is essential and has a huge impact on student achievement, I do not feel grades are a valuable part of the learning process in a course that focuses on project-based learning. Students definitely want the feedback, especially from someone besides me. They use feedback to improve and refine their products. Grades are really for the parents because they expect them. I find that the grades either reward or punish the student but they do not really inform them of how they are doing nor do they use them to improve. The current online grade system only allows for grading on 100 point scale- another thorn in my side. I do not think that 100 point scale is fair or accurate in this type of course. If I am grading 2 different game designs (a subjective task anyway) how do I fairly distinguish b/w a game that I would award a 90 vs. a game that I would award a 93? I decided to use a rubric based on a 4 point scale with a 1 meaning "you have some more work to do" to a 4 meaning "you really excelled at this". Using rubrics for each activity, I specified the qualifiers for each number. I also had to find an online grade book that allowed for custom grading scales. I settled on www.thinkwave.com/. I still had to give a 100 point scale equivalent for each of the 4 grade levels but I was able to set it up the way I wanted rather than it just being assigned. The school adopted grade book assigned my 3 a 75% equivalent on a 100 point scale my 2 a 50%; that did not work for me.

Rubrics- I used www.forallrubrics.com for some of my rubrics.

Playtest/Review
Goal Setting/Time Management
Game Submissions
Infographics