Instructional Design Context: Participation is THE grade in elementary PE.

Last week I created a rubric

that measured 4 points averaged for a total participation grade for in-person; however, for this
assignment I have designed a new algorithm to measure participation online. This will be for my one 3 rd
grade virtual class that I teach a “hybrid” method, meaning that I meet with them synchronously 5 times
in a 9-weeks and the rest of the course material is asynchronous. The hybrid teaching is done through
Canvas, where I have a homepage that all materials and announcements are housed for each grading
period.

Assessment Algorithm: To assess the online participation, which is the entire grade in PE, I would use a
percentage weighted system that scores different points of learner participation. 20% of the grade
would come from the physical attendance of the 5 zoom classes in a grading period, unless excused with
a legitimate absence. 20% would be weighted from an instructor derived thread with a weekly post.
Students would be responsible for reply to 9 posts, one per week, and reply to at least one classmate’s
response a week, totaling an extra 9 replies. I would give specific guidelines on how to reply to receive
credit to make sure that the responses and replies are meaningful and not just “words to get credit.”
The next 20% would come from a student-led forum promoting collaboration, where students make an
individual post 4 times in the 9-weeks during the weeks that they do not meet on zoom with me. They
would also have to reply to one classmate during each cycle as well with the same meaningful post
criteria as above. 10% would continue with “netiquette,” or citizenship, which would have to do with the
nature of their posts and how they interact in the zoom meetings (i.e. staying on task, no sidebar
conversations in the chat box, being respectful). The final 30% will be a private submission assignment at
the end of the 9-weeks that assesses their cumulative knowledge of the grading period.

Justification: Elementary online PE is not ideal, and with participation serving as the main grade for the
class, this weighted system would combine the two learner participation theories. The social presence
theory would be covered under my zoom meetings and feedback given on forum posts. The community
of presence theory is completed through the constant peer replies, conversation, and feedback in the
assignment and learner forums. Assessing the online learner participation in this way is more than useful
because it outlines the expectation for the students, while providing me as the teacher tools to measure
it numerically. A theoretical construct that is not really applied in this situation would be the
collaborative projects. At the elementary level it is hard to teach students how to collaborate effectively
in person, much less virtually with students that they do not have direct access to- other than the
student-led discussion forums that they will be creating. However, the involvement of attendance,
tardiness, discussion, and citizenship provides the rationale for the participation grade to be measured
accurately.