Boon Yih Mah

May 1, 20217 min

WeCWI-Enabled Remote Classroom: Crafting 21CLD with Microsoft Tools

Updated: Mar 27

Covid-19 has taken the world by storm, and many sectors, including education, were caught off guard. Many educators have been thrown at the deep end in exploring the best way of adopting technology to conduct their lessons virtually. In response to this global crisis that has forced the teaching and learning activities online on a massive scale, WeCWI-enabled Remote Classroom is initiated by Dr Mah Boon Yih, who is also a Certified Microsoft Innovative Educator (MIE), in line with WeCWI Integrated Solutions' motto—design thinking to innovate teaching—or in short, design to innovate.

The role of an educator is redefined as COVID-19 may change how we educate future generations. One of the recommendations from UNESCO to reflect on the COVID‐19 crisis is prioritising human solutions. WeCWI Integrated Solutions strives to empower teachers by enhancing their capacity and capabilities for teaching and learning, which aligns with one of the World Bank's key principles for EdTech in tertiary education. Thus, educators should start to innovate and shift to remote teaching with their preferred online tools, which may continue online pedagogies in the future—Microsoft Teams from Office 365 Education is one of the best solutions.

Microsoft Teams serves as a digital hub that brings instructors, learners, content, and apps together in one place as a remote classroom to cater for different learning needs.

WeCWI-enabled Remote Classroom

WeCWI is integrated with Microsoft Teams to design a remote learning environment to enhance 21st-century learning (21CL) skills. WeCWI-enabled Remote Classroom is an innovation project incorporating WeCWI and Microsoft technology for improved learning outcomes. By leveraging Class Teams together with other familiar tools like Microsoft Word, Microsoft PowerPoint, Photos, and Video Editor, both instructor and learners located at different places can perform various functionalities for teaching and learning purposes all in one place. These include texting and replying to messages, conducting meetings, sharing files and links, posting announcements and tasks, and submitting and grading assignments.

In terms of accessibility, it allows the users to access directly from the web or through their devices like desktops, laptops, tablets, and smartphones. Students can easily collaborate in real-time without boundaries. When using Teams, either SharePoint or OneDrive is used that can be accessed through a different place: SharePoint is the file tool behind a Team and channel; OneDrive is used when sharing files in a private chat. So, there are no worries about data loss and formatting issues. Furthermore. the Insights and Analytics applications embedded in Teams work effectively for the instructor to record and measure the digital engagement and activeness of all the participants within each channel created on this platform.

21CLD

21st Century Learning Design or 21CLD is a professional development that helps teachers redesign their existing lessons and learning activities to build students’ 21st-century skills. As highlighted by Microsoft Education Center, the 21CLD consists of six rubrics of 21st-century learning, each of which represents an important skill for students to develop with respective key questions as follows:

  1. Collaboration

    1. Are students required to share responsibility and make substantive decisions with other people?

  2. Skilled Communication

    1. Are students required to communicate their own ideas regarding a concept or issue?

  3. Knowledge Construction

    1. Are students required to construct and apply knowledge?

  4. Self-regulation

    1. Do students plan and assess their work, and revise it based on feedback?

  5. Real-world Problem-solving and Innovation

    1. Does the learning activity require solving authentic, real-world problems?

  6. Use of ICT for Learning

    1. Are students passive consumers of ICT, active users, or designers of an ICT product for an authentic audience?

Based on the integration of WeCWI Integrated Formula with Microsoft Teams, WeCWI-enabled Remote Classroom comes with eight channels on Microsoft Teams, including Chat, Meet, Read, Listen, Speak, Write, and Submit channels, besides the General channel with specific functions. These channels foster the 21st Century Learning Design or 21CLD that helps educators to craft their lessons and learning activities in line with the 21st-century learning skills as part of the classroom experience. Several instructional materials based on the course's learning outcomes and assessment requirements are created with the help of various Microsoft tools, which have been integrated into different channels as teaching resources and learning artefacts to achieve the desired learning objectives.

Icebreaker, course orientation, scheme of work and e-modules are available in the Class Notebook on the General channel. The Chat channel contains video chat and text messaging functions for asynchronous and synchronous communications with emojis and stickers. On the Submit channel, learners' assignments and quizzes submissions can be done with the support of Turnitin, Grades, and Insights for monitoring the learners' digital engagement and learning analytics.

Teaching Resources and Learning Artefacts Solutions

Below are some highlighted teaching resources and learning artefacts that are available on different channels in the class team.

A. Teaching Resources

  1. E-portfolio and CV

    1. E-portfolio and CV are shown on the General channel on Microsoft Teams for the instructor's self-introduction purpose.

    2. Microsoft Word is used to draft and organise the details of the instructor's profile before it is published in the form of an e-portfolio and CV.

  2. Calendar

    1. The courses' timetables and virtual meeting schedules are recorded and shown in the Microsoft Teams Calendar.

    2. The Calendar facilitates both instructor and the learners to conduct and attend the lessons based on the fixed schedules for the entire semester.

  3. E-attendance

    1. E-attendance for learners, as displayed on the General channel, are recorded in two ways:

      1. The list of learners who have attended the virtual meeting via Microsoft Teams is downloaded as a .CSV file (text format) through the three-dots icon of the Participants column.

      2. The graphical attendance with multiple statuses (present, absent with reason, and absent without reason) is generated using Microsoft Excel based on the data exported from Google Sheet linked with Form.

  4. Personalised Learning Profile

    1. Personalised Learning Profile, as found on the General channel, facilitates the instructors to collect the learners' biographical data, understand their academic backgrounds, test their proficiency levels, and identify their learning preferences.

    2. It is used as a summary of the important characteristics of the learners in which the data is generated using Microsoft Excel based on the data exported from Google Sheet and the linked Google Form.

    3. It can benefit learners of all ages and instructors of any subject.

  5. Self-Assessed Answer Sheet (S-AAS)

    1. S-AAS, as found on the General channel, is an answer sheet template created using Microsoft Word with the use of its Review function called Track Changes for self-assessed purposes.

    2. Track Changes is activated before the learners check their answers written in S-AAS based on the answer keys.

    3. The records of changes in red or other colours are treated as proof of corrections done digitally by the learners.

    4. S-AAS will be saved before submitting to their instructor as a part of the online learning task.

    5. An instructor can use S-AAS to guide the learners to do self-assessment using digital devices by referring to the answer key as portrayed in the video.

  6. Self-Assessed Online Listening Tests (SAOLT)

    1. Self-Assessed Online Listening Tests are videos featured on WeCWI Integrated Solutions YouTube Channel as a playlist and available on the Listen channel.

    2. Microsoft PowerPoint, Photos, and Video Editor are used to create the videos offering the English as a Second Language (ESL) learners to practise their listening skills in a test format.

    3. There are three types of listening test videos: news items, talk, and conversation.

    4. Each type of listening test video has two sets of questions labelled a and b.

  7. Self-access English Language Enrichment Hub (SELEH)

    1. Self-access English Language Enrichment Hub or SELEH is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0.

    2. It is an Open Educational Resource (OER) formulated based on RACQAIL attributes.

    3. English educators and learners can find accessible and useful links for teaching and learning purposes at their own pace.

    4. Many of the listed links come from WeCWI Integrated Solutions' resources, including articles and videos.

    5. Other resourceful websites or web pages are arranged in different categories for ease of reference.

B. Learning Artefacts

  1. Individual Oral Presentation

    1. An individual oral presentation is an English language course assignment offered by a university in Malaysia.

    2. It is presented based on an approved speech topic with the support of materials such as chart(s) and cited articles to support the main points.

    3. Learners develop skills to confidently and competently participate in speech communication activities by using the correct language for a presentation, exploiting various materials and sources, and using visual aids appropriately in oral presentations.

    4. They are also exposed to computer skills using Microsoft tools, including recording and uploading videos in various formats.

    5. There are three types of individual presentation:

      1. Oral Commentary

        1. The learner delivers an oral commentary based on a selected movie/film/television programme in five to seven minutes.

      2. Speech

        1. Informative Speech

          1. Learner delivers an informative speech to convey knowledge and understanding about a particular topic to inform the audience about an approved topic.

        2. Persuasive Speech

          1. Learner delivers a persuasive speech (questions of policy) based on an approved topic to gain immediate action from the audience to do something in support of the policy.

      3. E-poster Oral Presentation

        1. An e-poster oral presentation is an individual presentation of the group’s e-poster in which the learner individually records each part of the group’s poster presentation.

    6. During the COVID-19 pandemic, learners have to do live presentations through meeting on Microsoft Teams to be evaluated remotely at their respective homes.

    7. Learners who can not perform a live presentation during the lessons must submit their pre-recorded videos using the mobile phone or laptop within a stipulated time to ensure it is an authentic presentation for evaluation purposes.

  2. Group Presentation

    1. There are two types of group presentation:

      1. Group Discussion

        1. Three to four learners respond to a given situation based on a specific topic to discuss the issues, express views, and justify their opinions within 10 minutes.

        2. Learners are given one minute to read the stimulus and two minutes to prepare their responses.

        3. In the group discussion, they are required to:

          1. Present and justify your personal views;

          2. Support and oppose the other candidates’ views with valid justification and

          3. Decide which of the following suggestions is the best at the end of the discussion.

      2. Forum Discussion

        1. Four to six-panel members participate in a discussion on a topic by applying critical reading skills such as expressing argument, reasoning, types of support, and evaluating the argument.

        2. Learners must read articles to support their point of view on an argumentative topic dealing with a contemporary issue.

        3. Panel members express their opinion on a topic and interact with each other by evaluating or reacting to each other’s argument/evidence used.

        4. Panel members are suggested to support their arguments with three claims or reasons and support with evidence from their readings.

    2. During the COVID-19 pandemic, learners have to do their discussions or presentations through meeting on Microsoft Teams to be evaluated remotely at their respective homes.

    3. Learners who cannot participate in the live sessions during the lessons have to submit their pre-recorded videos on Microsoft Teams.

    4. Pre-recorded video is done using the mobile phone or laptop within a stipulated duration of time to ensure it is an authentic discussion for evaluation purposes.

  3. The learning artefacts from students as described above are accessible as a playlist HERE.

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