EDUC 766 - Instructional Strategies and Assessment Methods
Portfolio Project:
Creating and Maintaining a
Home Sourdough Baking Practice
Executive Summary |
INSTRUCTIONAL NEED
As shown in Google Trends, the popularity of sourdough baking, which had been steadily increasing since 2016, spiked in April 2020 with the issue of stay-at-home orders due to the Covid-19 pandemic. People turned to hobby baking not only as a satisfying way to fill this newfound free time but also as a way to make fresh baked bread at a time when grocery store visits were limited. This new pastime also comes with numerous health benefits. Slow-fermented bread contains gluten that is easier to digest, is filled with nutrients that are easier for our bodies to absorb, and produces a lower blood sugar spike.
PROJECT DESCRIPTION
Sourdough baking requires the successful maintenance and use of a sourdough starter, which can be intimidating even for experienced home bakers. With step-by-step instruction, new sourdough bakers can create and maintain a sourdough starter, apply the basics of slow-fermentation and baking science, use sourdough starter to make leavened breads and other baked goods, and troubleshoot common issues.
TARGET AUDIENCE
Home bakers who want to learn how to create and use a sourdough starter in their baking. Learners are motivated both by the challenge of baking leavened breads without packaged yeast as well as the health benefits of consuming slow-fermented breads.
Learners are adults of all genders and varying education levels. Learners will have little or no knowledge of sourdough baking and will have varying knowledge of other home baking principles and procedures. Learners will have varying comfort levels using technology but will be comfortable accessing information online.
DELIVERY
All instruction will be delivered online via self-paced modules. The training will use principles of Keller’s ARCS Theory to motivate adult learners. Learners will build on previous baking knowledge. They will receive frequent formative feedback and learn how to troubleshoot common issues, which will instill confidence as they move through the course. By the end of the course, a beautifully baked sourdough boule will be its own extrinsic reward.
As shown in Google Trends, the popularity of sourdough baking, which had been steadily increasing since 2016, spiked in April 2020 with the issue of stay-at-home orders due to the Covid-19 pandemic. People turned to hobby baking not only as a satisfying way to fill this newfound free time but also as a way to make fresh baked bread at a time when grocery store visits were limited. This new pastime also comes with numerous health benefits. Slow-fermented bread contains gluten that is easier to digest, is filled with nutrients that are easier for our bodies to absorb, and produces a lower blood sugar spike.
PROJECT DESCRIPTION
Sourdough baking requires the successful maintenance and use of a sourdough starter, which can be intimidating even for experienced home bakers. With step-by-step instruction, new sourdough bakers can create and maintain a sourdough starter, apply the basics of slow-fermentation and baking science, use sourdough starter to make leavened breads and other baked goods, and troubleshoot common issues.
TARGET AUDIENCE
Home bakers who want to learn how to create and use a sourdough starter in their baking. Learners are motivated both by the challenge of baking leavened breads without packaged yeast as well as the health benefits of consuming slow-fermented breads.
Learners are adults of all genders and varying education levels. Learners will have little or no knowledge of sourdough baking and will have varying knowledge of other home baking principles and procedures. Learners will have varying comfort levels using technology but will be comfortable accessing information online.
DELIVERY
All instruction will be delivered online via self-paced modules. The training will use principles of Keller’s ARCS Theory to motivate adult learners. Learners will build on previous baking knowledge. They will receive frequent formative feedback and learn how to troubleshoot common issues, which will instill confidence as they move through the course. By the end of the course, a beautifully baked sourdough boule will be its own extrinsic reward.
Alignment Template
Alignment is a crucial factor in developing effective instruction that engages learners and keeps them on track to achieve course objectives. Good alignment happens when objectives, activities, and assessments are connected and reinforce one another. The following chart shows the two terminal objectives for this course and how the enabling objectives, assessments, and activities work together to help the learner achieve the goal of establishing a successful home sourdough baking practice.
Learning Activities
In his book eLearning by Design (2012), William Horton outlines three types of activities that provoke meaningful learning experiences:
This course utilizes all three types of activities in combination to create a meaningful learning experience and facilitate long-term retention of sourdough baking knowledge and skills.
This course also uses principles of Universal Design for Learning (UDL). This framework makes learning accessible and engaging for a wide variety of learners. The three main principles of UDL are:
The learning activities in this course deliver content in a variety of ways to engage learners who have different preferences for learning. One example is the video content that demonstrates different sourdough baking techniques. The video provides multiple means of representation by offering alternatives for auditory and visual information. The narrator in the video describes in detail what she is doing in the video as another way of conveying knowledge to learners with a vision impairment or a preference for absorbing information through listening. The video also has close captioning for learners with a hearing impairment or a preference for absorbing content visually. Other principles of UDL are noted in the specific activities that follow.
- Absorb activities offer a passive, but mentally active, way for learners to consume information through reading, listening, or watching content.
- In Do activities, learners apply skills by practicing a procedure, playing a game, answering questions, experimenting, or exploring.
- Connect activities offer a way for learners to correlate new learning to work, life, and/or prior learning.
This course utilizes all three types of activities in combination to create a meaningful learning experience and facilitate long-term retention of sourdough baking knowledge and skills.
This course also uses principles of Universal Design for Learning (UDL). This framework makes learning accessible and engaging for a wide variety of learners. The three main principles of UDL are:
- Engagement: Stimulate interest and motivation
- Representation: Present information and content in different ways
- Action and Expression: Differentiate the ways that learners can express what they know
The learning activities in this course deliver content in a variety of ways to engage learners who have different preferences for learning. One example is the video content that demonstrates different sourdough baking techniques. The video provides multiple means of representation by offering alternatives for auditory and visual information. The narrator in the video describes in detail what she is doing in the video as another way of conveying knowledge to learners with a vision impairment or a preference for absorbing information through listening. The video also has close captioning for learners with a hearing impairment or a preference for absorbing content visually. Other principles of UDL are noted in the specific activities that follow.
Absorb Activity: Slide Show Presentation
The following slide show presentation features audio narration and animated images and text that introduces learners to the process of creating a sourdough starter from scratch. Close captioning and an audio transcript are provided as reference, aligning the activity with the UDL framework. These text supports offer a different means of conveying the information from the audio for learners with a hearing impairment or a preference for visual information. The presentation is best viewed at full screen, and the narrator's script is provided on screen in a blue box at the bottom of each slide.
Do Activity: Quiz with Formative Feedback
After completing the absorb activities for the three enabling objectives shown in the table above, learners will take a quiz that provides feedback on their understanding of the process of creating, feeding, and maintaining a sourdough starter. The quiz features formative feedback that gives learners a sense of their progress and also serves as a learning opportunity. The quiz features true/false, pick one, and pick multiple questions to give learners a variety of activities.
Connect Activities: Quick Reference and Online Calculator
For this enabling objective, two job aids help learners to connect new knowledge about hydration levels in sourdough baking with their own baking practice. The Quick Reference provides information that helps learners make decisions on how to choose hydration levels in home baking projects. The Online Bread Hydration Calculator is a tool that allows learners to quickly adjust hydration levels and the scale of recipes without engaging in complex math. This is an example of providing multiple means of action and expression according to the UDL framework. It supports learners by allowing them to focus on baking, not complicated math. The calculator is available in Excel, Google Sheets, and app format.
Bread Hydration Quick Reference
Online Bread Hydration Calculator
| hydration_calc.xlsx |
Assessment: Self-Evaluation Checklist
In this course, there is an assessment at the end of each module that allows learners to measure their own progress and focus on the skills they still need to master on their road to sourdough baking prowess. The training features two types of assessments: quizzes and self-evaluation checklists.
Each quiz includes a variety of objective question types (e.g., pick one, pick multiple, sequence, true/false) that keep the quizzes from becoming monotonous. They are short in length (between 4-8 questions) and are graded automatically. The learner receives immediate formative feedback after answering each question so that any misconceptions do not become entrenched. The formative feedback is important as these quizzes are designed to both provide opportunities for learning and reinforcement as well as to give learners a sense of their progress.
The self-evaluation checklists are subjective assessments that learners use to evaluate their own baking efforts. The following checklist outlines major criteria used in assessing the overall quality of a loaf of leavened bread. It features images and text descriptions of good and mediocre examples that learners can use as a rubric to evaluate their own baked goods.
Each quiz includes a variety of objective question types (e.g., pick one, pick multiple, sequence, true/false) that keep the quizzes from becoming monotonous. They are short in length (between 4-8 questions) and are graded automatically. The learner receives immediate formative feedback after answering each question so that any misconceptions do not become entrenched. The formative feedback is important as these quizzes are designed to both provide opportunities for learning and reinforcement as well as to give learners a sense of their progress.
The self-evaluation checklists are subjective assessments that learners use to evaluate their own baking efforts. The following checklist outlines major criteria used in assessing the overall quality of a loaf of leavened bread. It features images and text descriptions of good and mediocre examples that learners can use as a rubric to evaluate their own baked goods.
Reflection
In preparation for writing this reflection, I revisited the first draft of my alignment document. In comparing it with the current version I realized how much the document changed after writing assessments and designing learning activities. The evolution of this alignment document showed me just how iterative the instructional design process is.
WRITING ASSESSMENTS AS A FIRST STEP
Writing the assessments as a first step before designing the learning activities generated the biggest “aha” moment of the design process. Initially it seemed counterintuitive to write assessments for content that was not yet developed, but by outlining what the learner needs to know as a first step, the design of the activities became very straightforward. Identifying the knowledge, skills, and abilities up front provided a roadmap for designing the learning activities. With the assessments complete, I had a framework of the knowledge required, and designing the activities was just a matter of creating experiences where the learner can develop that knowledge.
THE ITERATIVE PROCESS
While designing the assessments, the iterative process continued. Asking the question, “How can this objective be assessed?” forced me to look at my enabling objectives in a new light. With a fresh perspective, I tweaked, added, and eliminated enabling objectives. With my assessments complete and my objectives revised, I moved to designing the learning activities following Horton’s Absorb-Do-Connect model. Again, more iteration. With the design of the activities complete, I revisited the alignment chart and further adjusted the enabling objectives and tweaked the assessments.
I initially struggled with how to handle the topic of troubleshooting, which is an important skill in baking. As I revised and revisited the design of the assessments and learning activities, it became clear to me that the topic of troubleshooting is better addressed as a connecting activity (as it connects new skills to real life) rather than as an enabling objective in its own right. But without the iterative process (and feedback from my partner and instructor), I would not have come to this conclusion.
This experience reinforced two important things:
UNIVERSAL DESIGN FOR LEARNING
After completing the self-paced training on Universal Design for Learning, I was inspired to create learning opportunities that are engaging and accessible to a wide variety of learners. Wherever possible, the learning activities provide multiple means of representation by offering alternatives for auditory and visual information. In the slideshow that demonstrates how to create a sourdough starter from scratch, I added a transcript of the audio for learners who have a hearing impairment, a preference for consuming written content, or who are pressed for time and don’t want to listen to the entire presentation. In the video that demonstrates different sourdough baking techniques, I designed the narrator’s script so that she describes in detail what she is doing in the video. This provides another way for learners with a vision impairment or a preference for absorbing information through listening to access the information. The video will also have close captioning for learner with a hearing impairment or a preference for reading content.
LOOKING FORWARD
In designing future projects, I look forward to:
WRITING ASSESSMENTS AS A FIRST STEP
Writing the assessments as a first step before designing the learning activities generated the biggest “aha” moment of the design process. Initially it seemed counterintuitive to write assessments for content that was not yet developed, but by outlining what the learner needs to know as a first step, the design of the activities became very straightforward. Identifying the knowledge, skills, and abilities up front provided a roadmap for designing the learning activities. With the assessments complete, I had a framework of the knowledge required, and designing the activities was just a matter of creating experiences where the learner can develop that knowledge.
THE ITERATIVE PROCESS
While designing the assessments, the iterative process continued. Asking the question, “How can this objective be assessed?” forced me to look at my enabling objectives in a new light. With a fresh perspective, I tweaked, added, and eliminated enabling objectives. With my assessments complete and my objectives revised, I moved to designing the learning activities following Horton’s Absorb-Do-Connect model. Again, more iteration. With the design of the activities complete, I revisited the alignment chart and further adjusted the enabling objectives and tweaked the assessments.
I initially struggled with how to handle the topic of troubleshooting, which is an important skill in baking. As I revised and revisited the design of the assessments and learning activities, it became clear to me that the topic of troubleshooting is better addressed as a connecting activity (as it connects new skills to real life) rather than as an enabling objective in its own right. But without the iterative process (and feedback from my partner and instructor), I would not have come to this conclusion.
This experience reinforced two important things:
- The iterative process generates a stronger, more focused plan for learning.
- The alignment chart is the center point of this process. With well-aligned objectives, assessments, and activities, all elements of the course are working together to help the learner achieve his/her goal.
UNIVERSAL DESIGN FOR LEARNING
After completing the self-paced training on Universal Design for Learning, I was inspired to create learning opportunities that are engaging and accessible to a wide variety of learners. Wherever possible, the learning activities provide multiple means of representation by offering alternatives for auditory and visual information. In the slideshow that demonstrates how to create a sourdough starter from scratch, I added a transcript of the audio for learners who have a hearing impairment, a preference for consuming written content, or who are pressed for time and don’t want to listen to the entire presentation. In the video that demonstrates different sourdough baking techniques, I designed the narrator’s script so that she describes in detail what she is doing in the video. This provides another way for learners with a vision impairment or a preference for absorbing information through listening to access the information. The video will also have close captioning for learner with a hearing impairment or a preference for reading content.
LOOKING FORWARD
In designing future projects, I look forward to:
- Further exploring how to fully utilize Horton’s Absorb-Do-Connect model
- Keeping the principles of the UDL framework at front of mind during the all parts of the process
- Using the iterative process to refine (and refine again) the design