Learning Pod: #5
Peer's names: Chloe Hood, Agrim Dogra, Armaan Gill, Daniel Wheaton, Nikhil Dhillon, Rachel Heagle.
Topic: Personal Finance
Link to resource: https://classroom.google.com/c/NTIzMDA5OTk1NzYz?cjc=3j45zro. Google Classroom code: 3j45zro

Identify components of the Interactive Learning Resource that might be missing (e.g., appropriate outcomes, alignment, interactivity, inclusivity, technology use and rationale, presentation, grammar, spelling, citations, etc.).

Hi everyone! Thanks for doing a great job introducing many interesting and practical topics in your teaching of Personal Finance. First of all, I appreciate how all the modules in Google Classroom are very organize with the use of clear headings. The learning objectives are clearly identified. There is also a wide array of resources provided for each topic as well, where many of them are very beginner friendly and suitable for your target audience of high school students.

That being said, I think that the Rationale document will require some more work, as the Learning Design Rationale section is not yet completed. Also, in the Learning Theory Rationale section of this document, it was mentioned that “Activities like case studies, simulations, and group discussions prompt deep thinking and application of financial knowledge, empowering students to tackle complex problems independently” – perhaps I have missed this, but I was not able to find case studies or group discussions activity in the Google Classroom.

Provide a summary of The Interactive Learning Resource’s strengths and weaknesses. Draw out specific examples from your peers’ work to justify your feedback.

Strengths:

• Good use of Google Classroom, very organize with clear headings
• Plenty of resources provided for each modules
• Many of the resources are beginner friendly and are easy to understand by high school students.

Areas for improvement:

• Although many resources are provided, the fact that there is little guidance on how to approach these resources can cause confusion to students – e.g. what should be the reading/watching order, what to pay attention to when student view these resources, etc. This is applicable to all modules. Perhaps another way to look at this is a lack original content, as all modules solely rely on external resources.
• It appears that in the Interest Rates module, the learning objectives doesn’t align with the essential questions.
• The grading for the quizzes lacks consistency, as some quizzes have all questions worth 0 points, while others have all questions worth 1 point or 10 points each.
• Missing a summative assessment.

Provide general, specific, and practical recommendations to your peers on how to improve their Interactive Learning Resource.

I think that overall, your group has done a fantastic job teaching your target audience about Personal Finance. Here are some ideas for improvement that you may want to consider implementing:

• Consider re-ordering the modules – does it make sense for Budgeting to be taught after Loans?
• Consider fixing the quiz grading scales to be more consistent.
• Try to write your own hook/content leading to the resources and provide more instructions on how to use these.
• Add a summative assessment and try to make it practical and personal to leverage personal motivation.
• Consider revising learning outcomes. I think ideally 1 essential questions should correspond to 1-2 learning outcomes max.
• Consider providing a forum for students to post questions and interact with teacher and peers.

Thanks again for a great teaching plan! I’ve learnt lots from reading up on RRSP and TFSA. I hope that high school students can actually learn from your resource, as managing personal finance effectively is such an important skill to have nowadays.

By: Julia