Science
Course Description Awareness Day: Science
The Bureau of Standards and Instructional Support in the Florida Department of Education is excited to announce Florida’s first Course Description Awareness Day on August 1st, 2018. This will be the first in a series of days devoted to spreading awareness and celebrating the content of Florida’s K-12 courses. The first day will place the microscope on science courses and Florida’s Next Generation Sunshine State Standards. Course Description Awareness Day will highlight the exciting challenges students face, and overcome, in courses due to the alignment with Florida’s rigorous standards. Furthermore, increased awareness of course and standards alignment will enhance classroom teachers’ instructional practices.
As part of the Course Description Awareness Day, Florida teachers will be awarded Open Badge micro-credentials in recognition of their participation. Micro-credentials are an increasingly popular method to display achievements and skills in which a person demonstrates competency. Digital “badges” are portable with verified, embedded information as evidence of the demonstrated skills and achievements. We are excited to provide a visual, digital representation to participants. Displaying these badges will spread awareness concerning the importance of course descriptions and their utilization when planning for instruction within Florida’s classrooms.
Participating in Course Description Day: Science
You can participate in Course Description Day by following the link below which corresponds to your grade band. Once there you will be required to create a login for the Canvas LMS (no cost) if you do not already have one. You can then join the course, which starts on August 1st.
Micro-credentials
Course Description Awareness Day will take place within the Canvas Learning Management System in the form of a course. The Course Description Awareness Day event will consist of the first sections of the course; however, participants will have the option of completing two additional sections to show an increasing level of mastery of the course description system. Each section will award a micro-credential based upon the achievement or skill in which a person has demonstrated competency regarding their mastery of the course description system. When all three of these credentials have been earned, participants will earn a mastery badge to denote completion of the full course. We have provided a list of the activities and corresponding credentials that can be earned below:
Level 1
The first level will train how to access the course description information, export it, and review it. A participant will then record and report key facts. This will be the section that is the "course description day" event.
Level 2
The second level requires participants to reflect on how understanding the specific standards aligned to a course assists in planning a lesson for students, how this will assist in formative and summative assessment, how this aligns to current practices, and how this will modify current instructional practices. This can be written or visual.
Level 3
The third level demonstrates participants' competency through implementation. Participants will provide visual evidence of a modified instructional practice due to an increased awareness of course and standards alignment. Participants may choose to record a class lesson, group lesson planning session, or instructional coaching session.
Level 4
This credential will be awarded when all three prior levels have been earned. Level 4 represents a participant’s mastery of the course description system.