The Mind Shift blog is one that "explores the future of learning in all its dimensions". After browsing their blog, it is obvious that the blog posts focuses on using technology on the classroom, reflections of teachers who have used technology, and other important classroom issues. A challenge I have been facing with students is the use of cell phones. The high school I am placed in has a cell phone policy where students are discouraged from using cell phones in the class. They are forbidden from using a phone unless it is by a teacher's approval. So my mentor teacher and I spend a lot of time asking students to put their phones away and paying attention to the class. Students are generally only allowed the students to use their cell phones if they want to look something up, or if they have extra time after finishing a task. However, I haven't seen cell phones being used strategically yet. When devices are needed, students are directed to the computers at the back of the room.
These daily classroom struggles with cell phone usage is why this article caught my attention. The article talks about creating a community of trust where students can make judgements about technology use. I think this is such an important issue because with the way technology is spreading today, I don't see any chance to "banning" cell phones from the classroom. Since we can't get rid of them, we should really try to make the most out of it. This article outlines a really great scenario that would be great to reproduce in more schools. Cell phones are powerful tools, and we should empower students to become technology producers and consumers. The fact of the matter is, as students grow older, they have to learn how to manage cell phone usage anyways. When they go to college, or are have a job, they cannot be on their phones constantly. So why not start providing them with practice early on? Furthermore, the article emphasizes the role of trust in developing this type of community. I believe trust is important for learning in general and not just in shaping digital citizenship. So building trust in the school will benefit students in more than just nurturing digital citizenship. Finally,, we've learned that as teachers, we need to have high academic expectations for our students that they can rise up to. Lowering expectations will send students the implicit message that this is all they are capable of. I think this concept can be extended to having high trust expectations of students. By treating students like they can be trusted, students will rise to the occasion and develop into trustworthy, responsible individuals.
Friday, November 7, 2014
Guest Speakers: Carrie & Rachel
We were fortunate enough to have Carrie and Rachel as guest speakers in our class. It was an unconventional session because it was virtual. I thought it was interesting because not only did they tell us about their experience in Michigan Virtual Schools (MVS), but also gave us insight on the tools and strategies they use to teach virtually.
Before this session, I was not even aware of virtual academies. I now see that it is a real possibility for students, especially for students who are naturally self-motivated. It is a necessary option for students who may have unusual situations. The guest speakers touched on a lot of issues that affect students that attend a virtual academy such as MVS. In particular the speakers mentioned that, for students to succeed they must be naturally motivated to do well because they have to stay on track with the lessons. This needs motivation because the lessons are all recorded, and it's easy to say that they will watch them later. But as someone who has tried to take classes online, I have first-hand experience in saying that I will watch the lesson later, only to find myself very behind on the material. In addition, because the students are at home, their families might take advantage of their availability and expect them to do errands, or take care of other family members while they are at home. However, students will need their family's support to succeed.
Rachel and Carrie were able to show us some example of strategies they use when teaching. Namely, they showed some of the ins and outs of Black Board. This tool to host webinars have a multitude of useful features. I especially like the private break out rooms and the polling features. Students can be assigned into break out rooms to have a private discussion to "think-pair-share", or to allow groups of students to work together at the same time. A teacher can also put a student in a private room to speak to them privately if needed. The polling feature allows a teacher to do a quick real time check-in or to vote options. Furthermore, as a moderator the teacher has many features for class management and to facilitate class logistics. Some of these features include having a timer, be able to bring people out of break rooms, and restrict audio and video, Students are able to raise their hand to ask questions, choose emoticons to convey opinions, and submit answers through polls.
Right now, I don't know what my job will be like in the future. So I don't know what technology resources I will have access to, or what circumstances will arise. I don't know if I will ever need to host a webinar, but if I do I feel much more prepared. Knowing how to host a webinar is definitely something I am glad to have in my tool box in case I ever need it.
Before this session, I was not even aware of virtual academies. I now see that it is a real possibility for students, especially for students who are naturally self-motivated. It is a necessary option for students who may have unusual situations. The guest speakers touched on a lot of issues that affect students that attend a virtual academy such as MVS. In particular the speakers mentioned that, for students to succeed they must be naturally motivated to do well because they have to stay on track with the lessons. This needs motivation because the lessons are all recorded, and it's easy to say that they will watch them later. But as someone who has tried to take classes online, I have first-hand experience in saying that I will watch the lesson later, only to find myself very behind on the material. In addition, because the students are at home, their families might take advantage of their availability and expect them to do errands, or take care of other family members while they are at home. However, students will need their family's support to succeed.
Rachel and Carrie were able to show us some example of strategies they use when teaching. Namely, they showed some of the ins and outs of Black Board. This tool to host webinars have a multitude of useful features. I especially like the private break out rooms and the polling features. Students can be assigned into break out rooms to have a private discussion to "think-pair-share", or to allow groups of students to work together at the same time. A teacher can also put a student in a private room to speak to them privately if needed. The polling feature allows a teacher to do a quick real time check-in or to vote options. Furthermore, as a moderator the teacher has many features for class management and to facilitate class logistics. Some of these features include having a timer, be able to bring people out of break rooms, and restrict audio and video, Students are able to raise their hand to ask questions, choose emoticons to convey opinions, and submit answers through polls.
Right now, I don't know what my job will be like in the future. So I don't know what technology resources I will have access to, or what circumstances will arise. I don't know if I will ever need to host a webinar, but if I do I feel much more prepared. Knowing how to host a webinar is definitely something I am glad to have in my tool box in case I ever need it.
NSTA Blog
Lately I've been hearing a lot about the National Science Teachers Association, and the great resources they offer to teachers. So I visited their blog, and I have to agree. I had a hard time choosing which blog piece to write about. Finally I decided to write about this blogpost because it really resonated with me. It addresses an issue that many of us are facing right now, myself included. I've notices that while teaching. A teacher asked for advice on what to do when there are only a few of the students answering all the time. I feel that this is problematic because as a teacher, if only a few are answering, I don't know if all the students get the material but some are just shy, or if some students just don't understand the concepts. I've been thinking a lot about this, and had some ideas on how I might address this in the classroom. Some of the things I thought of were actually listed in the post itself, which was a nice surprise! I had an additional suggestion for the teacher,which I posted in the comment section. I added that I usually try to show that I value students' contributions. So I might say "that's a great point, did you guys hear what so-and-so said?" This shows students that contributions are valuable, and that we can all learn from each other.
One of the things that I especially liked about the NSTA blog is it includes a space by teachers, and for teachers. A teacher posted her issue, and teachers responded. In addition, I visited the blog later on, and found a second part of the same article. The original teacher who posted the question had a chance share her experience with the suggestion, and the reflection on the results. The writer of the blog also provided some extra information and resources for the teacher and everyone else. In addition, the NSTA blog is really a great resource for teachers, it categorized blogs into topics that are important to teachers such as the Next Generation Science Standards, advice for teachers, and even digital tools for teachers. Overall, I think the NSTA and their blog are both great resources that I will keep an eye on as I delve deeper into my career. I see it as a place that will provide me with resources, collaborators, and help me stay updated with current educational research and public policy - all of which I will need to be a successful educator.
One of the things that I especially liked about the NSTA blog is it includes a space by teachers, and for teachers. A teacher posted her issue, and teachers responded. In addition, I visited the blog later on, and found a second part of the same article. The original teacher who posted the question had a chance share her experience with the suggestion, and the reflection on the results. The writer of the blog also provided some extra information and resources for the teacher and everyone else. In addition, the NSTA blog is really a great resource for teachers, it categorized blogs into topics that are important to teachers such as the Next Generation Science Standards, advice for teachers, and even digital tools for teachers. Overall, I think the NSTA and their blog are both great resources that I will keep an eye on as I delve deeper into my career. I see it as a place that will provide me with resources, collaborators, and help me stay updated with current educational research and public policy - all of which I will need to be a successful educator.
Friday, October 17, 2014
EDUC504 Guest Speaker: Tom Ward
Tom Ward was a great speaker that I found engaging. I think I could immediately relate to him because he was of similar age, is a math teacher (I'm getting certified in both chemistry and math), and he is a MAC graduate! This set up the tone for the rest of the presentation.
Tom presented a lot of creative ideas of how to use technology. All the tools he mentioned like blogs, twitter, vine, videos etc were all familiar to me. However the innovation was in the way he used them. I have never really considered having my students create a video. I didn't think there was much room for that type of creativity in a chemistry class. But now I see that video can be a change in the monotony of usual assignments. For example, instead of having students present a project, they can create a video. Another idea is students collecting videos of their experiments as part of gathering data. Many students probably already use twitter, so tweeting questions to their teacher might also be easier than sending in an email, especially if it just a quick question.
I usually just do a search on google when I need something, or I'm looking for an interesting classroom activity. But knowing that there are certain education bloggers out there who have activities of good quality, and are update their blogs consistently encourage me to follow blogs rather than doing sporadic searches. A tool that I do think I'll start using is an RSS reader like the one Tom mentioned is useful in keeping the blogs organized and keep me updated. I think this is an essential strategy for a starting teacher because I don't want to invent the wheel. By following blogs, I can start accumulating a bank of activities that I can use as needed. Seeing Tom using this, and speaking about the community of teachers who want to share their activities is really what is pushing me to do this.
In summary, Tom gave a great talk, and was very friendly, approachable and practical. He gave us a lot of realistic advice, especially from the perspective of a new teacher. For example, he told how in his first year teaching he was barely able to keep up, and definitely couldn't incorporate too many activities. However, as he got more experience he is now able to incorporate an interesting activity at least once a week. It is reassuring to know that it is normal if I don't manage to do too many activities in my first year. I think starting to compile interesting activities starting now will make me well equipped for when I am ready to do classroom activities.
Tom presented a lot of creative ideas of how to use technology. All the tools he mentioned like blogs, twitter, vine, videos etc were all familiar to me. However the innovation was in the way he used them. I have never really considered having my students create a video. I didn't think there was much room for that type of creativity in a chemistry class. But now I see that video can be a change in the monotony of usual assignments. For example, instead of having students present a project, they can create a video. Another idea is students collecting videos of their experiments as part of gathering data. Many students probably already use twitter, so tweeting questions to their teacher might also be easier than sending in an email, especially if it just a quick question.
I usually just do a search on google when I need something, or I'm looking for an interesting classroom activity. But knowing that there are certain education bloggers out there who have activities of good quality, and are update their blogs consistently encourage me to follow blogs rather than doing sporadic searches. A tool that I do think I'll start using is an RSS reader like the one Tom mentioned is useful in keeping the blogs organized and keep me updated. I think this is an essential strategy for a starting teacher because I don't want to invent the wheel. By following blogs, I can start accumulating a bank of activities that I can use as needed. Seeing Tom using this, and speaking about the community of teachers who want to share their activities is really what is pushing me to do this.
In summary, Tom gave a great talk, and was very friendly, approachable and practical. He gave us a lot of realistic advice, especially from the perspective of a new teacher. For example, he told how in his first year teaching he was barely able to keep up, and definitely couldn't incorporate too many activities. However, as he got more experience he is now able to incorporate an interesting activity at least once a week. It is reassuring to know that it is normal if I don't manage to do too many activities in my first year. I think starting to compile interesting activities starting now will make me well equipped for when I am ready to do classroom activities.
Padlet
I had the wonderful opportunity to watch some of my colleagues give a presentation on Padlet. The execution of the presentation was great. It was informative, engaging, and gave me the opportunity to try the tool and see what I can do.
Padlet is a relatively simple tool, which they illustrated beautifully in their use of a quick video to show the basics. After that they gave us all a chance to quickly dive in and get creative. I felt engaged and got excited in customizing my Padlet wall with chemistry related pictures and videos. What seemed to be a wall for sticky notes quickly transformed into so much more. I think the group did a great job in showing the range of uses of Padlet when they each created their own Padlet site, and shared it with us. I think that was the most powerful part of the presentation because they showed a variety of different ways a teacher can use it in different content areas.
In my chemistry classroom, I can imagine having a Padlet instead of a traditional website for my class. I could have a Padlet with information about myself, with a note linking to a new wall for each of the classes I teach. Withing each class "wall" I might have a note for homework, one for video resources, one for bell work. In an effort to streamline all the classroom technology resources into one place, bell work could be collected using another tool like Socrative, but other things like posting resources and homework is not something that Socrative would be useful for. A possible way to combine these too is to have a wall for assessment and bell work that link to Socrative.
As of now, I'm not 100% sure how well it would work in a classroom, however I am definitely willing to try and use it instead of a traditional teacher website since I think it's more interesting and versatile. It is also something that students would modify parts of and add to, which is empowering and hopefully would encourage them actually referring to the website and using it.
Padlet is a relatively simple tool, which they illustrated beautifully in their use of a quick video to show the basics. After that they gave us all a chance to quickly dive in and get creative. I felt engaged and got excited in customizing my Padlet wall with chemistry related pictures and videos. What seemed to be a wall for sticky notes quickly transformed into so much more. I think the group did a great job in showing the range of uses of Padlet when they each created their own Padlet site, and shared it with us. I think that was the most powerful part of the presentation because they showed a variety of different ways a teacher can use it in different content areas.
In my chemistry classroom, I can imagine having a Padlet instead of a traditional website for my class. I could have a Padlet with information about myself, with a note linking to a new wall for each of the classes I teach. Withing each class "wall" I might have a note for homework, one for video resources, one for bell work. In an effort to streamline all the classroom technology resources into one place, bell work could be collected using another tool like Socrative, but other things like posting resources and homework is not something that Socrative would be useful for. A possible way to combine these too is to have a wall for assessment and bell work that link to Socrative.
As of now, I'm not 100% sure how well it would work in a classroom, however I am definitely willing to try and use it instead of a traditional teacher website since I think it's more interesting and versatile. It is also something that students would modify parts of and add to, which is empowering and hopefully would encourage them actually referring to the website and using it.
Tech in My Placement
While I knew that technology is an important resource to teachers, in the chaos of being a new student intern trying to get adjusted to a new environment, technology was one of the last things on my mind, The survey really pushed me to focus my observations and find out about what resources really are available to us. The school I am placed in is interesting because it is technically a school but shares a building, a main office and principal with another school. So it's an interesting place to work in, especially with regards to allocation of resources.
At the advent of my placement, one of the first complaints I heard the staff struggle with was technology. At the general staff meeting, I heard concerns that computers were not distributed effectively; some rooms had too many, and others had none. In addition, the technology issues were handled by the district as a whole, and our school was not provided with a technology office for the school. So any technology change requests, or even issues with login information had to be sent to the district via a "help ticket". It was very inefficient, and created a lot of unnecessary frustration and delays. In addition, the printers were not working, which means teachers cannot print out their assignments to make copies. Teachers who don't have access to a printer at home were struggling, and I witnessed some collaboration between teachers to help each other out. I am actually not even sure the issue is resolved till now.
The school does have several copy machines available, and although they keep jamming, they generally get the job done. It's a great resource, and there are a couple in our school, and another 3 upstairs in the main office. Other great resources are the computers in the classroom. In my classroom, the teacher has a computer at the front of the room, in addition to about 10 computers in the lab space in the back of the room. The students have the option of using the computer just for research, or using it during a lab experiment.The teacher also has access to a projector of great quality, as well as a sound system. The sound system is basic and includes a microphone the teacher can wear comfortably as a necklace, and speakers. This allows the teacher to be heard clearly by everyone in the room. There is a district wide technology officer, that I did not have the pleasure of meeting, but heard about from my mentor teacher. He is apparently very friendly, and knowledgeable and was able to set up my teacher's computer, and upgrade her mouse since the old one was had a chord that was too short, and even resolve issues in the students' computers.
Overall, I am pretty happy with the resources available to the students. I feel this much technology is a good start for someone like me who is just a starting teacher. I am not sure how much technology I would be able to incorporate at this stage of my career. I acknowledge that there are some issues with technology resources in the school, and I believe that will probably be true of most schools. So I think the trick is so learn how to be resourceful with what you do have, while also working with the system to acquire the other resources that are needed.
At the advent of my placement, one of the first complaints I heard the staff struggle with was technology. At the general staff meeting, I heard concerns that computers were not distributed effectively; some rooms had too many, and others had none. In addition, the technology issues were handled by the district as a whole, and our school was not provided with a technology office for the school. So any technology change requests, or even issues with login information had to be sent to the district via a "help ticket". It was very inefficient, and created a lot of unnecessary frustration and delays. In addition, the printers were not working, which means teachers cannot print out their assignments to make copies. Teachers who don't have access to a printer at home were struggling, and I witnessed some collaboration between teachers to help each other out. I am actually not even sure the issue is resolved till now.
The school does have several copy machines available, and although they keep jamming, they generally get the job done. It's a great resource, and there are a couple in our school, and another 3 upstairs in the main office. Other great resources are the computers in the classroom. In my classroom, the teacher has a computer at the front of the room, in addition to about 10 computers in the lab space in the back of the room. The students have the option of using the computer just for research, or using it during a lab experiment.The teacher also has access to a projector of great quality, as well as a sound system. The sound system is basic and includes a microphone the teacher can wear comfortably as a necklace, and speakers. This allows the teacher to be heard clearly by everyone in the room. There is a district wide technology officer, that I did not have the pleasure of meeting, but heard about from my mentor teacher. He is apparently very friendly, and knowledgeable and was able to set up my teacher's computer, and upgrade her mouse since the old one was had a chord that was too short, and even resolve issues in the students' computers.
Overall, I am pretty happy with the resources available to the students. I feel this much technology is a good start for someone like me who is just a starting teacher. I am not sure how much technology I would be able to incorporate at this stage of my career. I acknowledge that there are some issues with technology resources in the school, and I believe that will probably be true of most schools. So I think the trick is so learn how to be resourceful with what you do have, while also working with the system to acquire the other resources that are needed.
Monday, September 1, 2014
Reaction: Connections Across Disciplines
I had the opportunity to look over a lesson plan created by three of my colleagues: Jimmy Johnson, Carl Dixon and Paul Sandy. They created a lesson plan about activism in the 1960's and how today's technology could have been used, and how can technology be used for activism today.
I really enjoyed the lesson plan, and would actually love to see the results from the students if any of them have the chance of executing it. The lesson plan is clear and very well written, which made it really easy for me (a math and chemistry teacher) quickly understand what the lesson is about. As an introduction to the 1960's, my fellow educators provide a 15 minute video as a crash course to the 1960's. The video is just the right length, and is engaging. I think this is a brilliant way of a quick introduction to all the main events in the decade, and allows the students some choice in the topic within this time period. Giving students choice is likely to increase their interest in the assignment and motivation.
The lesson plan touches on a relevant topic for students as we see today how facebook and twitter are regularly being used for activism. #Ferguson and #IfTheyGunnedMeDown was most recently used by social activists in response to the murder of an unarmed, African-American teenager in Ferguson, MO. Since social media and technology is so ubiquitous today, it would be interesting to imagine about how the activism in the 1960's might have been different if they had the same tools we have today. The lesson also goes on further to have students critique today's methods of activism to historical types of activism. This is really powerful as it challenges students to think critically about the pros and cons of the methods of activism today, determine what combination of methods work best, and empower them to become more active in their local communities.
In addition, I love that while they topic itself explores the role and use of technology in activism in the 1960's and today, it also seamlessly integrates the use of technology into the lesson itself as well. The lesson asks each student to watch the video by individually, giving them autonomy to pause, replay etc. In addition, it asks them to do research on the topic of their choice online, and cite 3 sources. Finding information from credible sources is an important skill to master, and it's great to see the students getting practice doing this early on.
I know their lesson plan assumes that they are implementing the BYOD program, however my only concern would be the huge variety of devices. What happens if students don't have a device to bring to school, how would they watch the video? Or, what if they only device they have is their smart phone (student doesn't have a computer at home), how would the student do the research? Especially since doing research on the phone can prove to be difficult on the phone. These are some of my concerns with the lesson plan, although my concern really is about the BYOD program and not the lesson plan itself. Hopefully, these teachers would have already established the BYOD program in their classroom, and know what their students' access to technology is, and so would be able to implement this lesson plan successfully.
I really enjoyed the lesson plan, and would actually love to see the results from the students if any of them have the chance of executing it. The lesson plan is clear and very well written, which made it really easy for me (a math and chemistry teacher) quickly understand what the lesson is about. As an introduction to the 1960's, my fellow educators provide a 15 minute video as a crash course to the 1960's. The video is just the right length, and is engaging. I think this is a brilliant way of a quick introduction to all the main events in the decade, and allows the students some choice in the topic within this time period. Giving students choice is likely to increase their interest in the assignment and motivation.
The lesson plan touches on a relevant topic for students as we see today how facebook and twitter are regularly being used for activism. #Ferguson and #IfTheyGunnedMeDown was most recently used by social activists in response to the murder of an unarmed, African-American teenager in Ferguson, MO. Since social media and technology is so ubiquitous today, it would be interesting to imagine about how the activism in the 1960's might have been different if they had the same tools we have today. The lesson also goes on further to have students critique today's methods of activism to historical types of activism. This is really powerful as it challenges students to think critically about the pros and cons of the methods of activism today, determine what combination of methods work best, and empower them to become more active in their local communities.
In addition, I love that while they topic itself explores the role and use of technology in activism in the 1960's and today, it also seamlessly integrates the use of technology into the lesson itself as well. The lesson asks each student to watch the video by individually, giving them autonomy to pause, replay etc. In addition, it asks them to do research on the topic of their choice online, and cite 3 sources. Finding information from credible sources is an important skill to master, and it's great to see the students getting practice doing this early on.
I know their lesson plan assumes that they are implementing the BYOD program, however my only concern would be the huge variety of devices. What happens if students don't have a device to bring to school, how would they watch the video? Or, what if they only device they have is their smart phone (student doesn't have a computer at home), how would the student do the research? Especially since doing research on the phone can prove to be difficult on the phone. These are some of my concerns with the lesson plan, although my concern really is about the BYOD program and not the lesson plan itself. Hopefully, these teachers would have already established the BYOD program in their classroom, and know what their students' access to technology is, and so would be able to implement this lesson plan successfully.
Saturday, July 26, 2014
BlendSpace
BlendSpace is an online tool for teachers I was fortunate on stumbling upon. With many teachers today trying to integrate technology into the classroom, and make their lessons engaging, this tool could not exist at a better time.
This is an online tool that leverages the huge amount of educational content available online and makes it easy for teachers to create lessons. I especially liked the bar on the right side, where teachers can choose to search for something in a variety of different search engines including YouTube, Google, and Flickr. This makes it so easy for a teacher to find exactly what they need all in one window, without navigating through a myriad of tabs. Blendspace also introduced me to some search engines I was not even aware of, like Guroo. This tool is also perfect for a teacher to see what lessons other teachers have developed for that specific topic, making BlendSpace collaborative. In fact, the account can be upgraded to allow actual teacher collaboration in creating lesson plans, enhancing its versatility further.
Privacy is always something of an issue when minors are involved. However, BlendSpace allows teachers to keep their lessons private, and provide their students with a class code that allows them to add the specific class. This keeps any comments students make on the lessons private, and maintains a safe space for this lesson (similar to a real classroom), away from the cyberbullies.
Overall, BlendSpace is another tool that expands what a teacher can do. Best of all, BlendSpace makes it easy, so give it a shot! What have you got to lose?
This is an online tool that leverages the huge amount of educational content available online and makes it easy for teachers to create lessons. I especially liked the bar on the right side, where teachers can choose to search for something in a variety of different search engines including YouTube, Google, and Flickr. This makes it so easy for a teacher to find exactly what they need all in one window, without navigating through a myriad of tabs. Blendspace also introduced me to some search engines I was not even aware of, like Guroo. This tool is also perfect for a teacher to see what lessons other teachers have developed for that specific topic, making BlendSpace collaborative. In fact, the account can be upgraded to allow actual teacher collaboration in creating lesson plans, enhancing its versatility further.
Privacy is always something of an issue when minors are involved. However, BlendSpace allows teachers to keep their lessons private, and provide their students with a class code that allows them to add the specific class. This keeps any comments students make on the lessons private, and maintains a safe space for this lesson (similar to a real classroom), away from the cyberbullies.
Overall, BlendSpace is another tool that expands what a teacher can do. Best of all, BlendSpace makes it easy, so give it a shot! What have you got to lose?
Tuesday, July 22, 2014
Lure of The Labyrinth Math Game
Games in education are all the new fad. Everyone is talking about how games are a new revolutionary way of teaching students in engaging, self-paced learning. However, are games really all that they are hyped up to be? Do all educational games provide an engaging way to learn? James Paul Gee discusses the characteristics of a good game in his article "Good Video Games and Good Learning". Gee studied several games and came to the conclusion that good games incorporate good gaming principles. I found the article intriguing and used it to explore Lure of The Labyrinth, an online math educational game to see how many good game qualities it has.
Gee discusses many qualities of a good game. Some of the positive characteristics that Lure of the Labyrinth has is a strong identity the player embodies, it can be customized in some ways, is interactive, and encourages risk taking.. The protagonist is a young boy whose pet is taken by a monster. The young boy follows his pet's sounds and ends up in a secret factory full of monsters and mythical creatures. As you can imagine, a young boy who loves his pet is a protagonist that many young students can relate to. Many teenagers love their pets and will be hooked into this story line. In addition, the player chooses his pet (a cat, dog, turtle etc.) and can customize his own appearance and name to an extent. This gives players a little bit of autonomy and ownership over the game. The game is interactive in that the player can explore areas (within restrictions) of the game, and can interact with other characters in the game. The last thing that I really liked is that there are very low consequences of failures. The player can keep trying to replay the same level until he/she is done practicing and is satisfied with the result. The low consequence of failure encourages risk taking, and making many attempts to succeed at learning the math.
Unfortunately, Lure of the Labyrinth left something to be desired. The longer I played, the more bored and frustrated I found myself. I asked myself, what would have made it more interesting to me? I realized that although the story line grabbed my attention at first, it soon became too much. I thought to myself, "am I reading a comic or playing a game? Let's get to the game already!" To make matters worse, although there was a long back story, the goal of the game becomes lost. Here's how it goes: the young boy loses his pet, goes to find him, goes undercover and gets a job at the factory. Then he starts doing "assignments" while he's on the job.. But how do these assignments help him find his pet? I'm not sure. And at some point a fairy asks him to plant beans in every room along the way.. Wait, what? Eventually, I found the game to just be a collection of assignments with no real goal behind them. Additionally, while each assignment was a game that obviously included some mathematical concepts, it was hard to know what concepts they were using. There were absolutely no instructions for the games, so I was left guessing as to what I need to accomplish to even pass that level. I was able to figure it out the goal and rules of one game, but the other one is still a mystery. Since I couldn't figure out the goal of that level, I was basically stuck and no new level was available to me.
Overall, I think Lure of the Labyrinth is a great concept with potential, but needs some serious tweaking. Instructions for the games would go along way in keeping the player engaged, and not get frustrated. A more cohesive story line to keep the motivation going would be great. For example, if each level was unlocking a specific tool that helps retrieve the pet, then the reason behind these assignments would be obvious. I think educational games have great potential, but not any game that incorporates some educational concepts will be successful. It needs to be an interesting game, with the educational concepts integrated in an authentic way.
Gee discusses many qualities of a good game. Some of the positive characteristics that Lure of the Labyrinth has is a strong identity the player embodies, it can be customized in some ways, is interactive, and encourages risk taking.. The protagonist is a young boy whose pet is taken by a monster. The young boy follows his pet's sounds and ends up in a secret factory full of monsters and mythical creatures. As you can imagine, a young boy who loves his pet is a protagonist that many young students can relate to. Many teenagers love their pets and will be hooked into this story line. In addition, the player chooses his pet (a cat, dog, turtle etc.) and can customize his own appearance and name to an extent. This gives players a little bit of autonomy and ownership over the game. The game is interactive in that the player can explore areas (within restrictions) of the game, and can interact with other characters in the game. The last thing that I really liked is that there are very low consequences of failures. The player can keep trying to replay the same level until he/she is done practicing and is satisfied with the result. The low consequence of failure encourages risk taking, and making many attempts to succeed at learning the math.
Unfortunately, Lure of the Labyrinth left something to be desired. The longer I played, the more bored and frustrated I found myself. I asked myself, what would have made it more interesting to me? I realized that although the story line grabbed my attention at first, it soon became too much. I thought to myself, "am I reading a comic or playing a game? Let's get to the game already!" To make matters worse, although there was a long back story, the goal of the game becomes lost. Here's how it goes: the young boy loses his pet, goes to find him, goes undercover and gets a job at the factory. Then he starts doing "assignments" while he's on the job.. But how do these assignments help him find his pet? I'm not sure. And at some point a fairy asks him to plant beans in every room along the way.. Wait, what? Eventually, I found the game to just be a collection of assignments with no real goal behind them. Additionally, while each assignment was a game that obviously included some mathematical concepts, it was hard to know what concepts they were using. There were absolutely no instructions for the games, so I was left guessing as to what I need to accomplish to even pass that level. I was able to figure it out the goal and rules of one game, but the other one is still a mystery. Since I couldn't figure out the goal of that level, I was basically stuck and no new level was available to me.
Overall, I think Lure of the Labyrinth is a great concept with potential, but needs some serious tweaking. Instructions for the games would go along way in keeping the player engaged, and not get frustrated. A more cohesive story line to keep the motivation going would be great. For example, if each level was unlocking a specific tool that helps retrieve the pet, then the reason behind these assignments would be obvious. I think educational games have great potential, but not any game that incorporates some educational concepts will be successful. It needs to be an interesting game, with the educational concepts integrated in an authentic way.
Online Assessment: Smarter Balance
Online assessments are becoming the norm. There are online
assessments for most tests including the Graduate Record Examinations
(GRE) and the Michigan Test for Teacher Certification (MTTC).
Personally, I've found most of the computer based assessments I've
encountered to be be reasonable. Unfortunately, the Smarter Balanced
online assessment that Michigan has adopted to administer K-12
standardized assessments is far from that.
I had the opportunity to browse through the some of the tests offered by Smarter Balanced, which covered both the Math and English topics and spanned across K-12 grades. Although I am an avid technology user, I personally found the online test to be cumbersome and difficult to use. It made me imagine how much more difficult using this assessment might be for students who may not be as tech savvy.
The overall structure of the online test is not bad, but several things are formatted in ways that makes the user interface unfriendly. For example, the question information, and the question itself were placed in 2 panels side to side. The left panel would include the necessary background information to answer the question, and the right panel would contain the actual questions. The problem arises when the background information is a long piece of text or includes some tables and graphs, and the student has to scroll up and down, and even worse, scroll sideways just to see the information. The student can expand the width of the panel to see the information better, however it then covers up the question. This type of structure makes is difficult to navigate because a student has to keep switching back and forth between panels and has to keep scrolling to see various parts of the information.
I also found it frustrating that the test wouldn't let me move around between questions. Even though I could flag a question I wasn't sure about, I couldn't skip it and come back to it later. I had to provide some sort of answer to be able to move on. This is unlike the GRE; I clearly remember being able to move back and forth between questions in each section, making it easier for me to answer the questions I felt ready for. Also, every time I would do something not allowed by the system (such as skip a question), I got a scary looking error message, with extraneous information! I don't think that the student needs to know that this error is "[Message Code 12784]". Why is that even there? I found it to be really distracting, and a bit distressing to see this message every time.
On the math tests, the calculator is pretty bulky, and a bit hard to use. I kept trying to press "Ans" to get the answer but it wouldn't work, until I realized there is a small button with the = sign that I'm supposed to be pressing. Some questions asked the students show their work, but the answer space looked like it was to provide a paragraph of text. It would be really difficult showing work that would ideally need a diagram, involves division and other operations by just typing it in like regular text. It would make it very difficult to read, and I'm sure would lead to higher rate of mistakes. Also, specifically in the G7 Math Performance Task, it says that the test has questions 1-5 at the top, but then there are only 4 questions. I had to spend some times trying to figure out if I had missed any of the questions.
On the English Language Art tests, some of the words were underlined lightly, and wasn't clear why that was until I realized that if I clicked on those words, a small box appeared with its definition. This is actually useful, but I wish was presented in a different way as I found this hard distracting. Also, some of questions were in multiple choice format, and asked the student to pick one correct answer. Although the students should only pick one answer, sometimes the system would only allow students to pick one answer, whereas other times it allows them to pick more than one. I think this just increases confusion and difficulty because of the inconsistency presented in multiple choice answers.
Overall, I think online assessment tools can be a useful thing. It saves paper, and could allow for immediate results. However, with an online assessment tool such as the Smarter Balance, the test starts to test how well the student can overcome some of the user interface challenges, rather than the material itself. This is especially true if we consider that students can easily get nervous about tests and the technological difficulties might hinder their performance. Another scenario is that the students realize this test doesn't affect their life directly, and so when they see that the test is difficult to use and navigate, they give up easily. So what exactly is this tool measuring? Is it really measuring student performance, or is the student performance becoming overshadowed by the tool itself? How fair is it to base teacher evaluation on "student performance" when it is gathered by online assessment tools such as this one?
I had the opportunity to browse through the some of the tests offered by Smarter Balanced, which covered both the Math and English topics and spanned across K-12 grades. Although I am an avid technology user, I personally found the online test to be cumbersome and difficult to use. It made me imagine how much more difficult using this assessment might be for students who may not be as tech savvy.
The overall structure of the online test is not bad, but several things are formatted in ways that makes the user interface unfriendly. For example, the question information, and the question itself were placed in 2 panels side to side. The left panel would include the necessary background information to answer the question, and the right panel would contain the actual questions. The problem arises when the background information is a long piece of text or includes some tables and graphs, and the student has to scroll up and down, and even worse, scroll sideways just to see the information. The student can expand the width of the panel to see the information better, however it then covers up the question. This type of structure makes is difficult to navigate because a student has to keep switching back and forth between panels and has to keep scrolling to see various parts of the information.
I also found it frustrating that the test wouldn't let me move around between questions. Even though I could flag a question I wasn't sure about, I couldn't skip it and come back to it later. I had to provide some sort of answer to be able to move on. This is unlike the GRE; I clearly remember being able to move back and forth between questions in each section, making it easier for me to answer the questions I felt ready for. Also, every time I would do something not allowed by the system (such as skip a question), I got a scary looking error message, with extraneous information! I don't think that the student needs to know that this error is "[Message Code 12784]". Why is that even there? I found it to be really distracting, and a bit distressing to see this message every time.
On the math tests, the calculator is pretty bulky, and a bit hard to use. I kept trying to press "Ans" to get the answer but it wouldn't work, until I realized there is a small button with the = sign that I'm supposed to be pressing. Some questions asked the students show their work, but the answer space looked like it was to provide a paragraph of text. It would be really difficult showing work that would ideally need a diagram, involves division and other operations by just typing it in like regular text. It would make it very difficult to read, and I'm sure would lead to higher rate of mistakes. Also, specifically in the G7 Math Performance Task, it says that the test has questions 1-5 at the top, but then there are only 4 questions. I had to spend some times trying to figure out if I had missed any of the questions.
On the English Language Art tests, some of the words were underlined lightly, and wasn't clear why that was until I realized that if I clicked on those words, a small box appeared with its definition. This is actually useful, but I wish was presented in a different way as I found this hard distracting. Also, some of questions were in multiple choice format, and asked the student to pick one correct answer. Although the students should only pick one answer, sometimes the system would only allow students to pick one answer, whereas other times it allows them to pick more than one. I think this just increases confusion and difficulty because of the inconsistency presented in multiple choice answers.
Overall, I think online assessment tools can be a useful thing. It saves paper, and could allow for immediate results. However, with an online assessment tool such as the Smarter Balance, the test starts to test how well the student can overcome some of the user interface challenges, rather than the material itself. This is especially true if we consider that students can easily get nervous about tests and the technological difficulties might hinder their performance. Another scenario is that the students realize this test doesn't affect their life directly, and so when they see that the test is difficult to use and navigate, they give up easily. So what exactly is this tool measuring? Is it really measuring student performance, or is the student performance becoming overshadowed by the tool itself? How fair is it to base teacher evaluation on "student performance" when it is gathered by online assessment tools such as this one?
Wednesday, July 16, 2014
Students bringing their own technology to class: In or Out?
I've been hearing about the Bring Your Own Device movement. Students bring their own devices to use at school rather than using technology provided at school. This movement sounds good in theory, but as a teacher, it makes me anxious just thinking about using this in my own classroom. I definitely see some potential benefits. For example, students can bring in devices that they're comfortable with, and extend their learning beyond the classroom when they realize that their devices can be more than just a phone or a tablet. Additionally, schools wouldn't have to spend money to buy technology (or as much technology), which is a relief to a lot of schools experiencing budget cuts.
However, I truly believe that the risks outweigh the benefits. Here's why.
Depending on students' own equipment on learning creates too much of a variation between students with respect to their classroom experience. A student's technology might not carry the necessary features highlighted in the classroom lesson. And if a teacher decides that each student can just work with whatever features are available on their device, how is a teacher going to plan a lesson effectively? Also, what if a student brings in a device that the teacher is not familiar with? How is that teacher expected to help guide the student if they can't guide their project or help them troubleshoot? I also think that students using their own devices (especially phones), could be distracting. Imagine a student constantly being aware of every email or notification they receive while they are in class. I'm sure most will give in to the temptation and check their messages during class.
More importantly, equity between students becomes an issue. What is a student doesn't have any technology at home? Or they are too embarrassed to bring their technology because they feel like it's too old, or it's not cool? Teenagers are constantly comparing themselves to others and feel pressured to have the latest trend. Bring Your Own Device is just exacerbating that pressure. It also puts pressure on the parents who may not be able to afford that technology, but feel like they need to buy it for their child to get the most of their school experience. Can students share? Sure. But a student might be overprotective of their phone for example, and may not allow someone else to use it freely.
I think that Bring Your Own Device is an easy way for a school to remove the responsibility off of them, and leave the teachers and families to deal with it. I understand that not all schools can afford top-notch technology, but it's really not about having the newest computers. It's about what you do with the resources you do have.
However, I truly believe that the risks outweigh the benefits. Here's why.
Depending on students' own equipment on learning creates too much of a variation between students with respect to their classroom experience. A student's technology might not carry the necessary features highlighted in the classroom lesson. And if a teacher decides that each student can just work with whatever features are available on their device, how is a teacher going to plan a lesson effectively? Also, what if a student brings in a device that the teacher is not familiar with? How is that teacher expected to help guide the student if they can't guide their project or help them troubleshoot? I also think that students using their own devices (especially phones), could be distracting. Imagine a student constantly being aware of every email or notification they receive while they are in class. I'm sure most will give in to the temptation and check their messages during class.
More importantly, equity between students becomes an issue. What is a student doesn't have any technology at home? Or they are too embarrassed to bring their technology because they feel like it's too old, or it's not cool? Teenagers are constantly comparing themselves to others and feel pressured to have the latest trend. Bring Your Own Device is just exacerbating that pressure. It also puts pressure on the parents who may not be able to afford that technology, but feel like they need to buy it for their child to get the most of their school experience. Can students share? Sure. But a student might be overprotective of their phone for example, and may not allow someone else to use it freely.
I think that Bring Your Own Device is an easy way for a school to remove the responsibility off of them, and leave the teachers and families to deal with it. I understand that not all schools can afford top-notch technology, but it's really not about having the newest computers. It's about what you do with the resources you do have.
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