See my Summary of Learning here.

My course feels done, or at least for our class purposes, it feels done.   The link for Wellness 10 ECI 834 can be found here. My main page starts with essentially a syllabus and breakdown of the goals/topics covered in the Wellness 10 course.
The next tab on the course is learning outcomes, which are directly from the Saskatchewan curriculum. This section also gives students a tangible look at the grade breakdown for these areas which are directly correlated with the amount of time we spend in each area.
Next on the dashboard, is the modules section. First is our 30 Day challenge, which I think is one of the most important areas in Wellness 10. The students are able to identify some opportunities where they can improve their lifestyle, eating habits, sleeping schedules, environmental awareness, etc. They are then able to formulate a plan here to make this life change for 30 days. I have uploaded a PDF in this section to aid them in working through this module.
The second module is our fitness testing area which is easily done without the aid of much equipment, should someone be doing this course fully remotely.  I have uploaded PDFs of a) recording sheet b) girls aged 14-18 results matrix c) boys aged 14-18 results matrix d) goal setting and reflections as well as recorded my own exercise demonstration videos and uploaded them to YouTube with links to each. Originally, I had uploaded these videos directly onto the site, but after having about half of them, I was running out of storage space. Alec was in the breakout room as I was pondering this problem and figured out the solution to host them on YouTube instead of the Canvas site.
Next is Assignments, which mirrors a lot of the information in the modules section, but give grade values to the assignments, but also has a section with a link to FlipGrid for introductions. The students are invited to use this link to introduce themselves, speak briefly on past (positive or negative) , and what they hope to get out of the course.
The next section is Files, where students are able to access the documents for both modules, as well as shortcuts to videos. As I write this, I see that I've only used 12% of the storage for the site, which is about 70% lower than when I had 6 videos hosted directly on the site.
In my Discussion section, I decided to limit the topics available, mostly to streamline the locations and make things easier to find in there. I have a General area, a space for Wellness resources, and each module has their own discussion section.
The Rubric area houses evaluation criteria for the 30 Day challenge only since the Fitness Testing rubric is basically integrated into that assignment.
Finally, I opened up the Chat option so that students are able to ask questions in real time to me, or have others in the class respond if they are online and working through similar difficulties.

As far as getting feedback / feedforward, I've done a few things in the past in order to improve my courses going forward. I would typically throw together a survey on surveymonkey.  They would typically get 5-8 questions, most with a 1-5 star rating and it made it painless and easy to follow. The final question on the survey would be open ended for any thoughts, comments or suggestions and I'd find that most students would skip this section, or put in some generic comment. I do these things so that I can make adjustments for the course going forward, but it rarely benefits those students who had just given me the feedback since the survey is done at the end of the course. Going forward, I think that doing one of these (anonymous) surveys part way through the class would allow me to get a better feel for the class' feeling and make changes that are meaningful for the current group.
For my current ECI blended class, I think I will use forums with specific headings for topics that I think need to be there. I like the idea of having a general / misc area where students can post about a variety of things and not feel handcuffed that they need to always be posting about one certain topic or whatever. Of course, I 'd offer some areas for resources and topic specific questions as well. I would limit the number of areas so that students don't find confusion in where a certain post would fit or where they could find information on certain topics. Too many choices will create confusion and too few will limit student's ability to post.  Gotta find the happy medium with maybe 3-5 topic areas to ensure they are being used and not overwhelming.

I decided to do this week's blog entry on fonts.  I haven't ever really given it much thought and I always went with Times New Roman or, if I'm feeling adventurous, Arial.  Sometimes bold, sometimes underline no real use for italics unless it's for citations- but that's it.  I don't typically stray from these staples since I feel like they are professional looking and I haven't had a need to try something else.  Maybe I'm lacking creativity.  Last week - and in previous weeks - during class, people seemed to swooooooooon over some of the fonts used and I figured this week's entry would be a good opportunity to look over this stuff and see what all the fuss is about. After doing some reading, authors have written about how fonts can attract readers, how they can inspire creativity and how emotions can be delivered through various forms of typeface.  The tone is important and I feel like the reader will be drawn to information that's bolded or indented. I always thought that less is more and that some pictures, centred headings and clear spacing would be most attractive to the reader. Depending on who your audience is will dictate what your end product should look like. If you think about different fonts that you see on a daily basis, you'll know and recognize them and associate them with a certain product or company much the same as you recognize a team's logo.  You know what the Rider logo is, but you'll also associate their font with the team when you see it..Sometimes bubbly, or jagged fonts will appeal to younger, energetic group and script will garner the attention of sophisticates.  I think I'm happy with my blase fonts but can appreciate when people use a variety to mix it up.  Maybe I'll try it sometime, but I don't think I'd use this script at the risk of offending my aunt.....

 It was a little nerve wracking to present some of the stuff I've been working on over the last few weeks.  I'm always a little skeptical of my own work until I can get some feedback or reassurance that I'm on the right track. Our group had great discussions about everyone's modules and setups and was super interesting to see how people were trying new things and what successes and challenges they were finding. Jocelyn had such cool little videos and animations that I'm pondering
doing something like that, although she was telling us about the time it took to prep those, so I'll maybe put a pin in that.  Heidi did a great job, setting the bar high and presenting her and Daniel's site.  There, again, feels like a lot of work involved in their project, but they are also protecting their own work and intellectual property, which I also respect quite a bit. Leah has some really neat stuff and I think she's got a very organized and professional looking project. Christina was using Google Classroom, and she's on the right track with all of her work. I think she felt uneasy about if she was using that LMS properly and we had a great discussion about the capabilities, limitations and options available in GC. When it was my time, I started with some of my existing Google Classroom stuff that I use in my classes, maybe to confirm the things Christina was doing or answering some of the little questions.  My course for this class is set on Canvas, which I'm finding that I like quite a bit, but small aspects that prove challenging sometimes.  I have little built in pieces like rubrics and such that are visible, but I'd like them to not be, so I'll have to do some adjusting and seeing if I can hide those, since they don't really fit with my design.  I am also creating some videos of demonstrations, but are taking up a whole ton of storage space. Alec was in the breakout room when I was presenting this section and suggested I host those videos elsewhere.  After class was done, I uploaded them to YouTube and linked them instead of actually storing those videos on the site. I was a little concerned that I would run out of space since I still have a few more videos to create and store.  This should alleviate my storage problem, but the rubric stuff will take a little more time to figure out and clean up.

I've decided to review deck.toys    The sign in page allows for students or teachers (free account) to login. You can also login using Google or Facebook which may allow the user to link their Google Drive and Google Classroom to this interactive lesson planner.  Once logged in as the teacher, you can add up to two classrooms and peruse the pre-built lessons or create your own.  The premade lessons include Math, Social, Science and ELA.  After you've selected the subject area, you can choose the appropriate grade level and preview the decks.  There are intriguing templates made with Donkey Kong and Among Us themed lessons.
With the design, you're able to choose a linear, forked, circular or merged path for the students' learning.  Those prefab choices range anywhere from simple to mastery, or the teacher can do a custom design.
The lessons will ultimately end up looking like a board game, but you can make it look almost any way you'd like it to, including some popular game shows like Wheel of Fortune.
I think the strength of this program is that you can tailor it to your/your student's tastes and make it relevant to the unit you're focusing on. I also like the fact that there is a plethora of premade decks that you have access to and can demo them before assigning them to your group.
A weakness of the program is that there are so many things that you can do on the site, but the instruction are a little vague and could use more guidance for a new user.  The tutorials are there, but some on site guidance would be beneficial.

Evergreen Curriculum


You are able to access the Saskatchewan Evergreen Wellness 10 curriculum here for a detailed look at the curriculum.

Main Goals

The main goals of Wellness 10 are to:
1.  Active Living - Enjoy and engage in physical activities to support lifelong active living
2.  Skilful Movement - Enhance quality of movement in a wide variety of movement activities.
3.  Relationships - Balance self through safe and respectful personal, social, cultural, and
     environmental interactions in a wide variety of movement activities.
4.  Develop the understanding, skills, and confidences necessary to take action to improve  
     health.
5.  Make informed decisions based on health-related knowledge.
6.  Apply decisions that will improve personal health and/or the health of others.

Target Audience & Demographics

This class is intended for grade 10 students who are in need of this credit to graduate high school and earn their diploma.  Most of these students are 15-16 years old, though some may be older and needing this course in grades 11 or 12. The demographics of these students is a typical high school with a mix of middle class families, with some being upper-middle, and some being lower middle.

Course Format

The course will be a blended/online course with some portions of the course being face to face and some pieces of the course being presented online.

Course Platform

The blended Wellness 10 course will be accessed through Canvas LMS at this link.

Learning Objectives, Outcomes and Assessments

Assessments will vary as some will be in-class and using exit slips, class participation while some larger online assessments will be projects and presentations.  Class grades will be broken down as follows:

• Understanding Wellness  - 15% (W1)

    Evaluate one’s understanding of wellness while participating in various learning
    opportunities that balance the dimensions of wellness (i.e., physical, psychological,
    social, spiritual, environmental).

• Individual/Partner Movement Activities - 20% (W3 + W10)

    Plan for and engage in movement activity to increase confidence, competence, and
    sustainability in self-selected individual and/or partner movement activities.

• Physical Fitness - 10% (W7)

    Promote sustainable well-being by planning for and engaging in movement activities that
    enhance the health-related and skill-related components of fitness.

• Mental Well-being/Culture of Safety - 20% (W4 + W6)

    Assess the impact of mental health on overall well-being of self, family, and community.  
    Model and promote a local culture/norm of safety and injury prevention.

• Relationships & Nutrition - 20%  (W8 + W11)

    Assess how relationships (eg. With self, peers, family, teachers, teammates, opponents,
    coaches, employees) influence all dimensions of wellness & Make informed decisions
    regarding personal healthy eating practices based on connections to wellness.

• Service Learning - 10%  (W2)

    Assess, through participation in service learning opportunities. Must complete 12 hours
    of volunteering.

• Self-Awareness/Self-Management - 5%  (W5 + W7)

    Assess one’s self-awareness and self-management for the purpose of enhancing well-
    being of self and others.

Course Considerations
For EAL students, please consider using Google Translate if you are in need of clarification.  If you need more assistance, contact me at [email protected]



Rationale

I have decided on this design as most students have some type of device where they are able to access this content both in and out of the school. The school is able to provide laptops or other technology to those students who need it and I will also provide hard copies for those who desire that mode of documentation.