Running head: FINAL PROJECT GROUP 6 1

EDTE 281 Final Project Group 6

Denisse Loeza-Flores, Erica Perez, Jennifer Hobbs

California State University, Sacramento

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EDTE 281 Final Project Group 6

The objective of this project was to redesign an existing elementary level phonics lesson

as an e-learning phonics lesson. The team documented the roles and process related to

redesigning the lesson. The team did not produce an actual lesson.

Introduction to the Lesson

Denisse Loeza-Flores’ 2nd grade classroom at Grunsky Elementary School in the

Stockton Unified School District uses the Open Court Curriculum for reading and writing. The

team redesigned a reading lesson in which students blended words with the long /o/ sound

spelled o and o_e such as in words go or note. The lessons were taught using the Instructional

Routine for Whole Word Blending provided by Open Court. The routine instructs teachers to

“point to each spelling and ask for the sound. Once students are comfortable with the routine,

drop the verbal cues, point to the spellings, and have students give the sounds.” (McGraw-Hill

Education, 2015) The target audience of the lesson as written by Open Court included students in

second grade. The ages of these students ranged from 7 to 8 years old. Denisse informed the

team that she found that the instructional routine as written was not engaging. The low

engagement of the lesson, as provided by Open Court, and the differences in student proficiency

meant that not all students were successful. Prior to requesting assistance from the team, Denisse

duplicated a class set of words used in the lessons for students to highlight the spelling patterns

while they practiced sounding out the words in order to increase engagement and provide a

different mode of expression.

Although Open Court has an online presence, the resources were not directly related to

the lessons and, as a result, were not used in the lesson as practiced. At the time of this lesson

redesign, Grunsky Elementary School had a functional website for each of its teachers. Grunsky
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Elementary also included online phonics resources for students on the school website. These

resources included “Starfall” and “Imagine Learning” (Grunsky Elementary School, n.d.).

Starfall provided students with online reading practice for sounding out words at their own pace.

Two resources on the Starfall website that related to the lesson objectives of o and o_e included

an interactive activity called “Mox’s Shop” and a video called “Robot and Mr. Mole” (Starfall,

n.d.). Imagine Learning provided students with the opportunity to read leveled texts and track

reading progress (Imagine Learning, 2018). Other online resources were not included as part of

the lesson as taught at the time of this lesson redesign. Denisse indicated that students had access

to Chromebooks and schoolwide WiFi.

Description of Each Roles’ Process

Client/Instructor

As the instructor, Denisse reviewed the Open Court curriculum to determine if an

existing component of the curriculum’s lessons could benefit from a transformation to an e-

learning based lesson. Currently, the Open Court reading curriculum consists of teacher led

weekly lessons in which students are taught structured phonetic spelling patterns to assist with

decoding when reading. The weekly lessons are taught in step by step directions where the

teacher displays a set of words on the whiteboard and students read the words as a class and

articulate the spelling patterns or relationships they notice among the words. As the teacher,

Denisse realized that based on the mode of delivery of these lessons there is minimal interaction

between the content and the students. Also, the lessons are not accessible to all students because

not all students have mastered the ability to proficiently blend the sounds of a word together and

decode the word. Therefore, Denisse observed that the struggling readers in her class were not

engaged because they not only couldn’t interact with the displayed words but also, they needed
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more support in reading that what was outline in the routines provided by Open Court. Denisse

recognized that a phonics lesson redesigned as an e-learning lesson would benefit the students

for the purpose of increasing interaction, engagement, and accessibility for all students. Denisse,

as the client, relayed to Jennifer (Instructional Designer) and Erica (UX Designer) the need for

an online experience that compliments Open Court’s weekly lessons and provides students

opportunities to read strategically spelled words as well as interaction with the target words.

Denisse provided a sample Open Court lesson along with materials such as the lesson’s core

decodable book, practice skills page, and skills assessment page. Denisse also collaborated with

Jennifer (Instructional Designer) and Erica (UX Designer) in the decision process on how to

transform the existing Open Court lesson to its online equivalent.

Instructional Designer

As the Instructional Designer, Jennifer asked Denisse to describe her lesson as it was

taught and to provide feedback about the lesson and lesson objectives provided by Open Court.

Jennifer then used her understanding of Universal Design for Learning (UDL) to address gaps

that Denisse identified. The UDL guidelines included three benchmarks for accommodating all

learners: provide multiple means of representation, provide multiple means of action and

expression, and provide multiple means of engagement (Lapinski, Gravel, & Rose, 2012, p.13).

Jennifer felt that Denisse offered multiple means of action and expression by

incorporating the low-tech solution of worksheets that students follow along during group

practice. However, as Denisse indicated, the lesson as written was not engaging and does not

allow for students to develop into “strategic, goal-directed learners” and “purposeful, motivated

learners” (Lapinski, Gravel, & Rose, 2012, p. 13).

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To engage learners and “provide options for expression and communication” (p.13),

Jennifer recommended that spelling activities and Open Court Decodable books be uploaded into

Imagine Learning. This will allow students to interact with the texts at their own pace and

complete benchmark assessments relevant to their levels. This also offered “options for self-

regulation” (Nelson, Rose, & Posey, 2014) because students would be able to choose the

activities that they wished to complete and the texts that they wished to read.

In order to sustain “effort and persistence” (Nelson, Rose, & Posey, 2014), Jennifer

recommended that the preceding levels of the o and o_e activities and texts also be uploaded.

Not only would this optimize individual choice and autonomy as recommended by Nelson, Rose,

and Posey (2014) but it also would minimize threats and vary demands and resources to optimize

challenge. Once uploaded and made compatible with the Imagine Learning platform, students

would be able to access definitions, text to speech, and Spanish translations. This would allow

students to manipulate the texts and activities to suit their needs because “digital text provides

much more flexibility than traditional print formats” (Edyburn, 2005).

Students would record themselves reading using the tools provided by the Imagine

Learning platform and Denisse would be able to score their fluency and track their progress. To

accommodate goal setting and measuring progress, Denisse should share data with students

either via the Imagine Learning platform or by helping them graph their progress. This would

help students become “strategic, goal-directed learners” (Nelson, Rose, & Posey, 2014). If

Imagine Learning does not allow uploads to their platform, Fluency Tutor for Google includes

uploading, recording, marking and scoring fluency, and providing feedback to students (texthelp,

2015).
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UI/UX Designer

As the UX Designer, Erica learned from Denisse that she did not find the current

instructional routine engaging enough, it was important to consider the grade level of the

audience in order to provide an effective yet exhilarating learning experience. To deliver a

successful experience, it is critical to define the audience, determine the product or service,

determine goals, and research user needs (Woolery, n.d.). Just like any student from another

grade level, second graders have common characteristics and school implications. Some

common characteristics from a cognitive perspective, students “show great interest in words and

have rapidly developing vocabularies”. From a social-emotional stand point, students at this level

need the “use of playfulness and humor to lighten up their tension” (Wilson, 2010). After

learning the needs from the instructor (Denisse), and recommendations from the ID (Jennifer),

the UX Designer (Erica) applied the following suggestions to transform the existing Open Court

lesson into an e-learning tool that will look aesthetically pleasing and feel worthy of a second

grader’s time and attention.

To enhance the recommendations, Erica developed a library of motion graphic videos

that emphasize on the blended words with the long /o/ and o_e sounds. To ensure the interface

proves to be effective, videos are to include basic principles for better engagement including

color, balance, contrast, typography and consistency. The set of videos include interactive motion

graphics in which students can find it entertaining enough yet informational to follow along the

long /o/ and o_e sounds as they appear on screen. “Readability is one the most important aspects

of Web design usability” (Cronin, 2009). The selection of a large bold font will help students

focus and emphasize the sounds on the letters /o/ and o_e when pronunciation of the words. (See

figure 1 and 2 below).

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Figure 1. Figure 2.

In terms of colors, Erica selected a dark fuchsia color to help students identify the letter

with the long sound (/o/). According to the article, Psychology of the Color Pink and What it

means for Your Business (fatrabbit Creative, 2015), “bright and warm pinks, such as fuchsia or

magenta are vibrant, youthful and encourage a sense of confidence”. Keeping in mind the

audience, it is critical to use colors that will help in increasing their confidence and abilities in

successfully learning new words. Having the letter bigger in size and darker in color, is a

reiteration of the emphasized letter. The following o’s in lower color opacity, are an indication

that the word proceeds with a longer sound. Each video will last from thirty to forty seconds

followed by a ten second window for students to repeat the word.

To increase students’ knowledge, word sounds will be constantly repeated for a better

understanding. These videos are created using video editing software including Adobe After

Effects and Adobe Premier. The library of video can be accessed on YouTube through the

provided Chromebooks for easier navigation and accessibility. Jennifer, the ID suggested the

integration of the platform Imagine Learning. After watching the assigned videos, students are

prompted a link navigating them to Imagine Learning to take a quiz based on the videos to

measure the understanding of the material and how much information they can retain. Upon

integrating these recommendations, it is hopeful that second graders will find these e-learning
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tools engaging as well as effective towards advancing their abilities in becoming successful

learners.
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References

Cronin, M. (2009, March 18). 10 Principles of Readability and Web Typography. Retrieved from

Smashing Magazine: https://www.smashingmagazine.com/2009/03/10-principles-for-

readable-web-typography/

Edyburn, D. L. (2005, November/December). Universal Design for Learning. Special Education

Technology Practice, 16-22.

fatrabbit Creative. (2015, November 24). Psychology of the Color Pink and What it Means for

Your Business. Retrieved from some advice:

https://www.fatrabbitcreative.com/blog/psychology-of-the-color-pink-and-what-it-means-

for-your-business

Grunsky Elementary School. (n.d.). Online Resources. Retrieved from

https://www.stocktonusd.net/domain/733

Imagine Learning. (2018). Imagine Learning and Literacy. Retrieved from

www.imaginelearning.com/programs/language-and-literacy

Lapinski, S., Gravel, J. W., & Rose, D. H. (2012). Chapter 2: Tools for Practice The Universal

Design for Learning Guidelines. In T. E. Hall, A. Meyer, & D. H. Rose (Eds.). New York,

New York: The Guildford Press.

McGraw-Hill Education. (2015). Open Court Reading: Foundational Skills Kit Teacher’s Guide:

Grade 2. Columbus, Ohio.

Nelson, L. L., Rose, D., & Posey, A. (2014). Design and deliver: Planning and teaching using

universal design for learning. Herndon, VA: Paul H. Brookes Publishing Co., Inc.

Starfall. (n.d.). Learn to Read. Retrieved from http://more2.starfall.com/n/level-a/learn-to-

read/load.htm
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texthelp. (2015). fluencytutor for Google. Retrieved from texthelp: https://www.texthelp.com/en-

us/products/fluencytutor/

Wilson, M. B. (2010). Schedules and Routines. In What Every 2nd Grade Teacher Needs to

Know about Setting Up and Running a Classroom (p. 120). Center for Responsive

Schools, Inc. Retrieved from

https://www.responsiveclassroom.org/sites/default/files/et2ch2.pdf

Woolery, E. (n.d.). Design Thinking Handbook. Retrieved from

https://www.designbetter.co/design-thinking