The other backchanneling service I have extensive experience with is Cover It Live. Cover It live is actually considered a live blogging tool, a way to provide live coverage of an event to the masses as events unfold. But the great side feature to this is that the audience of the blog can interact with the person running the live blog, so a classroom teacher can actually use the service as a backchannel.
By starting a live blog for an activity, a teacher can post questions to the room, which is going to be made up of students, and the students can respond to the questions and issues presented to them. There's a couple of great features of Cover It Live that make it perfect for classroom use, in my humble opinion.
At the top of the list of great features: the service is currently no cost (FREE!) and ad-free...all the time. That means there is no up front cost to the teacher, the school, or the district. These are definitely bonuses on many fronts. The ability to embed the chat into your own website (from wikis to your own district website - if it accepts HTML code) is another one of the great features of the service. This feature itself ensures that your students are participating in a playground you are entirely comfortable with, and if hosted on a district sanctioned web page, walled-garden issues all but evaporate.
Moderators are required to register to use the service, which is a quick and easy process, but students are not required to, which makes the service incredible easy to use with a class...no worries about needing an email account! To get users into the chat, simply direct them to the URL where you are hosting the backchannel. The students just have to supply a name once they arrive there in order to participate in the chat. Now, that does leave open the possibility the students will provide strange or inappropriate user names, but because the room is moderated, meaning nothing goes out to the room until approved by the moderator, I tell the students I will post no comments unless I know exactly who the user is. Yes, this does still leave open the possibility of one student impersonating another, but I also give my students some mechanism of letting me know if that has happened. And because of a built in private messaging feature, I can then directly message the offender, the message from me shows up in red on their computer screen, and the perpetrator is nabbed! If the computer screen is blank or the service has accidentally been lost, I personally would also take that as an admission of guilt, especially if it happened as I get up to take a walk around the room to look for the student with the direct message from me.
On other fronts, the chat, in its entirety, is automatically saved and available for review as long as the moderator doesn't delete it from his account. Additionally, as long as the chat remains embedded on the page where it was hosted, it is available for review as long as it is there. Thus far when using Cover It Live, I have not hit an upper limit of allowed users, having had up to 90 users in a chat at one point in time; that was three different classrooms in two different locations even.
To close out, a couple of technical notes. The moderator of a Cover It Live Chat must moderate using Firefox or Internet Explorer. Participants, on the other hand, can use any web browser, so this a fairly flexible and easy to sue in the classroom setting. (At least this was the case at one point in time. As I was drafting this post, I was unable to confirm this on Cover It Live's webpage.)
For a regular classroom setting, I highly recommend this service. Its ease of use and flexibility make it a great tool for regular classroom use.
Showing posts with label technology. Show all posts
Showing posts with label technology. Show all posts
Sunday, April 5, 2009
Sunday, March 22, 2009
Backchanneling Basics #5 - Student Views
Over the last two weeks, I've written a bit on the educational relevance of backchanneling, including some who see it as positive to classroom use and some who don't (via links to articles, etc.). When I have made presentations on this topic in the past, I have felt it is important to include the student's take on backchanneling and how it has been of use to them in the classroom. So, this week, let's hear from some of my former students.
The following are screen grabs from the very first backchanneling session I ever ran. At the end of the activity, I asked the kids what they thought, and here is what they said.
Thus, my students, at the very least, found themselves more engaged in the activity and took something form it they would not have otherwise. And for me, that is all the reason I need to continue with backchannels in my classroom.
I've got a few of my students on video as well talking about backchanneling. If I can get it edited and posted online, I may add that on here as well in the future.
The following are screen grabs from the very first backchanneling session I ever ran. At the end of the activity, I asked the kids what they thought, and here is what they said.
Thus, my students, at the very least, found themselves more engaged in the activity and took something form it they would not have otherwise. And for me, that is all the reason I need to continue with backchannels in my classroom.
I've got a few of my students on video as well talking about backchanneling. If I can get it edited and posted online, I may add that on here as well in the future.
Sunday, March 15, 2009
Backchanneling Basics #4 - Relevance Continued
This week I'd like to continue talking about the educational relevance of backchanneling. In addition to the coaching idea I wrote about toward the end of last week's post (students answering each other's questions and explaining difficult concepts), I'd like to talk about the other educationally relevant uses of backchannels.
Besides having students interact with each other during a content presentation, a teacher might use a backchannel to have students comment on something they are watching and make connections to what they already know. Questions could be posed to the students to see if they are understanding content in the intended way. Students could be given a heads-up ("This is going to be important!") about some aspect of the material about to be presented, so they are mentally focused on it and not caught by surprise.
On the flip side of the coin, a student can pose a question in the middle of the presentation and get an almost immediate answer to the question from his or her peers or the teacher. In this use, students can get their thinking straight and don't have to wait for the teacher to pause (which might often be much later in class) to get their questions answered. In this use, the students might not loose understanding of all the content that follows the confusing aspect they had a question about.
To round out this week, I wanted to share some other articles I located on backchannel use. Some show it in a positive light, as I see it, while some take a look at the downsides of the process. See the following links for some additional reading, and decide for yourself where you stand.
Backchannels and Mythbusting - Digital Natives Blog
Ira Socol Brings the Backchannel Forward
The Laptop and the Lecture: The Effects of Multitasking in Learning Environments
The Myth of Multitasking
Back Channel Use? : eLearning Technology
Besides having students interact with each other during a content presentation, a teacher might use a backchannel to have students comment on something they are watching and make connections to what they already know. Questions could be posed to the students to see if they are understanding content in the intended way. Students could be given a heads-up ("This is going to be important!") about some aspect of the material about to be presented, so they are mentally focused on it and not caught by surprise.
On the flip side of the coin, a student can pose a question in the middle of the presentation and get an almost immediate answer to the question from his or her peers or the teacher. In this use, students can get their thinking straight and don't have to wait for the teacher to pause (which might often be much later in class) to get their questions answered. In this use, the students might not loose understanding of all the content that follows the confusing aspect they had a question about.
To round out this week, I wanted to share some other articles I located on backchannel use. Some show it in a positive light, as I see it, while some take a look at the downsides of the process. See the following links for some additional reading, and decide for yourself where you stand.
Backchannels and Mythbusting - Digital Natives Blog
Ira Socol Brings the Backchannel Forward
The Laptop and the Lecture: The Effects of Multitasking in Learning Environments
The Myth of Multitasking
Back Channel Use? : eLearning Technology
Sunday, March 8, 2009
Backchanneling Basics #3 - Educational Relevance
Last week, I wrote about and advocated the reasons for backchanneling in school. This week, I want to take this a step further and talk about the educational relevance of backchannels.
Many of us have probably attended educational conferences where backchannels have been running during keynotes, individual sessions, etc. In this setting, the backchannel serves a number of purposes: it's a written record of the session, it's a place where participants can ask questions about the session content, and it's a place where participants can offer their insights into the content. I know that I end up with a deeper understanding of the content from participating in a backchannel during conference sessions.
One of my feeds this week delivered a post that addresses this issue of backchanneling at conferences. Although the title of the article is "How to Present While People are Twittering," many of the same benefits I've mentioned above are addressed in the post too. You might want to check it out.
OK, so backchanneling at conferences is one thing, but what about in the classroom? In my last post, I addressed the issues of student voice and increasing class participation, so I think that is part of the educational relevance. But what else is there that is a benefit? If we as educators find benefits from interacting with a presentation and participants at a conference, why wouldn't students benefit from interacting with each other during a classroom presentation. Let's face it, it is hard to explain something so that every single kid gets it on the first explanation. Why not allow the students to explain the concept to each other in a backchannel? The students who get the concept can help those who don't and in the process of explaining the concept deepen their own understanding. Of course, there is a written record of the backchannel that the teacher should review to make sure the student's thinking doesn't need corrected or adjusted. Students should never be left entirely on their own nor should the backchannel become a replacement for good teaching. The backchannel should merely be a supplement to good teaching.
How else can backchannels be used in educationally relevant ways? Next week, I'll continue this discussion, talking about some of the educationally relevant ways I think backchannels can benefit students.
Many of us have probably attended educational conferences where backchannels have been running during keynotes, individual sessions, etc. In this setting, the backchannel serves a number of purposes: it's a written record of the session, it's a place where participants can ask questions about the session content, and it's a place where participants can offer their insights into the content. I know that I end up with a deeper understanding of the content from participating in a backchannel during conference sessions.
One of my feeds this week delivered a post that addresses this issue of backchanneling at conferences. Although the title of the article is "How to Present While People are Twittering," many of the same benefits I've mentioned above are addressed in the post too. You might want to check it out.
OK, so backchanneling at conferences is one thing, but what about in the classroom? In my last post, I addressed the issues of student voice and increasing class participation, so I think that is part of the educational relevance. But what else is there that is a benefit? If we as educators find benefits from interacting with a presentation and participants at a conference, why wouldn't students benefit from interacting with each other during a classroom presentation. Let's face it, it is hard to explain something so that every single kid gets it on the first explanation. Why not allow the students to explain the concept to each other in a backchannel? The students who get the concept can help those who don't and in the process of explaining the concept deepen their own understanding. Of course, there is a written record of the backchannel that the teacher should review to make sure the student's thinking doesn't need corrected or adjusted. Students should never be left entirely on their own nor should the backchannel become a replacement for good teaching. The backchannel should merely be a supplement to good teaching.
How else can backchannels be used in educationally relevant ways? Next week, I'll continue this discussion, talking about some of the educationally relevant ways I think backchannels can benefit students.
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
If they had asked me...
If I went down to EduCon 2.1 a day early to check out what was happening in the English classes at SLA. Zac Chase's class started with this journal prompt: "If they asked me, I could have told them..." The genesis for the rest had been rolling around in my head for awhile, so here is the result.
*****
If they asked me, I could have told them the best laid lesson plans don't always go the way one expects, especially when technology is involved. At any given moment, the network will crash, and the glorious lesson plan you had ready to go will suddenly be useless. I could have told them to always have a back-up plan for the event of when (not if) the network will crash. I could have told them that the site you checked out yesterday will inevitably be blocked today, so have a back-up plan. I could have told them that network protocols are constantly being changed, so always check to see if your access is still present. I could have told them that what works on the teacher's computer might not work the same on the students' computers, so always try the activity on those machines before going live. If they had only asked me...
*****
If they asked me, I could have told them the best laid lesson plans don't always go the way one expects, especially when technology is involved. At any given moment, the network will crash, and the glorious lesson plan you had ready to go will suddenly be useless. I could have told them to always have a back-up plan for the event of when (not if) the network will crash. I could have told them that the site you checked out yesterday will inevitably be blocked today, so have a back-up plan. I could have told them that network protocols are constantly being changed, so always check to see if your access is still present. I could have told them that what works on the teacher's computer might not work the same on the students' computers, so always try the activity on those machines before going live. If they had only asked me...
Tuesday, March 4, 2008
Student Voice & the future
Just finished participating in a video conference that came about as a direct result of my involvement in Classrooms for the Future (CFF). Our district was asked by the state of Pennsylvania, and specifically Holly Jobe, to share our findings and insights with a group of educators in the San Joaquin Valley, California, interested in bringing technology into their classrooms, and it was a really interesting experience. Our team decided to have on hand not only technicians, not only our CFF coaches, and not only our administrative team but also a classroom teacher, myself, and a student to the conference, and the student had a big impact on the tone of the conference. It reminded me a lot of Educon 2.0 when students voiced the role of technology in their lives and how it was affecting them in the classroom. Jessica, the student I had with me, very dynamically illustrated to the folks in California the impact the technology had on her as well as very much impressing our state level friends who organized this video conference. (She was congratulated by all the members of the group and personally thanked by Holly at the end!) It turns out California wants to mimic what we're doing with Classrooms For the Future.
The message I want to get out to anybody that might be reading this blog is this: as we continued talking about classrooms of the future, 21st century education, classrooms 2.0, schools 2.0, and students 2.0, we have to remember to bring the students into the discussion. They are dynamic and will be critical at convincing reluctant staff members and education personnel that there is a need for change in the 21st century.
The message I want to get out to anybody that might be reading this blog is this: as we continued talking about classrooms of the future, 21st century education, classrooms 2.0, schools 2.0, and students 2.0, we have to remember to bring the students into the discussion. They are dynamic and will be critical at convincing reluctant staff members and education personnel that there is a need for change in the 21st century.
Sunday, March 2, 2008
Don't take too much for granted
I had a bit of a let down with one of my classes here a few weeks back. It was early in the new semester, which for us means that we get all new classes on the flavor of block scheduling we operate on. With this class in particular, I'd been working hard to establish a good rapport and get these students to buy in to the approach I wanted to use in class. In fact, I blogged about this class a couple posts back. I'd gotten pretty comfortable with these students and felt I was starting to make some progress with them. So, when it came time to do an activity using SKRBL, I left a bit too much unsaid.
I introduced the activity to the kids, gave them the directions, and sent them off to work. I was on my feet a good chunk of the period, as I'd anticipated, helping kids get on the right browser and log on to the site. As things progressed either our network connection or Skrbl's ground to a halt, and the automatic updates ceased reflecting on my computer, which was also projecting on the main screen.
So, much later in the period when I finally got to a computer that was able to pull a refresh on the page, I was shocked to see a post that referenced someone having a large anatomical part. Without announcing the specific post, I asked what it was all about and calmly expressed my dissatisfaction to the class. I told the kids that I knew it had been one of them that had posted it, and I was disappointed that one of the other students had taken the initiative to take it down. I reminded the students they were a network of sorts and should have been looking out for each other. Well, until things settled down and the service returned to normal, the post in question was gone and no one had owned up to doing it. I was at least grateful for that.
What's the lesson to be learned here? Never take a class's goodwill for granted. Before using any tool, a teacher must remember to make expectations for appropriate use and behavior clear to the students. That way, use guidelines are clear in the students' minds going in to the activity. Additionally, it's an element of teaching good digital citizenship: teaching the students to behave in positive and meaningful ways in all situations they are in on the web.
I introduced the activity to the kids, gave them the directions, and sent them off to work. I was on my feet a good chunk of the period, as I'd anticipated, helping kids get on the right browser and log on to the site. As things progressed either our network connection or Skrbl's ground to a halt, and the automatic updates ceased reflecting on my computer, which was also projecting on the main screen.
So, much later in the period when I finally got to a computer that was able to pull a refresh on the page, I was shocked to see a post that referenced someone having a large anatomical part. Without announcing the specific post, I asked what it was all about and calmly expressed my dissatisfaction to the class. I told the kids that I knew it had been one of them that had posted it, and I was disappointed that one of the other students had taken the initiative to take it down. I reminded the students they were a network of sorts and should have been looking out for each other. Well, until things settled down and the service returned to normal, the post in question was gone and no one had owned up to doing it. I was at least grateful for that.
What's the lesson to be learned here? Never take a class's goodwill for granted. Before using any tool, a teacher must remember to make expectations for appropriate use and behavior clear to the students. That way, use guidelines are clear in the students' minds going in to the activity. Additionally, it's an element of teaching good digital citizenship: teaching the students to behave in positive and meaningful ways in all situations they are in on the web.
Tuesday, February 5, 2008
Professional Development that Works
Did you ever wonder what a good model of professional development might look like? Well, I just had one today. This professional development activity is called Cadre, and it's sponsored by my school district. It's facilitated by Paul, a great guy from Apple Computer.
Paul started out today by asking what we wanted to know about Web 2.0, and we knew just enough to be dangerous when he threw out that term. Minutes later, we had a graphic organizer of about 20 different topics we had heard something about.
We narrowed those 20 topics we have generated into 6 focus areas. Then Paul divided us into groups based on our main area of interest. He then gave us the next hour and a half to just explore that web 2.0 concept or tool and propose potential uses for it in education. It was really a good chance for people who were interested in something they had heard about to dig deeper into that topic.
After lunch, we all presented what we have found. We explored Twitter and Pownce; We explored Moodles, Blogs, and Wikis; We explored and created Skrbls. We explored del.icio.us. Friends (Brandon, Elisha, Ann and Mike) tweeted in to help me demonstrate Twitter and the power it has as a network. I learned about a number of modules within Moodle that might address some needs in my classroom as a one stop location, including discussion sections, chat sections, and places to post other content.
As the afternoon wore on, the student became the teacher when I clued Paul in to Jott and how to use it, which he in turn shared with the group, and by the end of the day, many people in the room had signed up for Jott accounts and were already using it to send themselves and others notes. And in the middle of the session, Kristin ran a test session of CoverItLive, which the group got to see unfold.
By the end of the day, everyone had come away with something new to use in either their classroom, and in some cases, people had new personal tools too.
Why was this a good model of professional development? It allowed teachers interested in transforming their classrooms and engaging their students time to explore something they might not have had time to otherwise. The gears were definitely turning all day long as this group of teachers took ownership of their own learning for a day.
Paul started out today by asking what we wanted to know about Web 2.0, and we knew just enough to be dangerous when he threw out that term. Minutes later, we had a graphic organizer of about 20 different topics we had heard something about.
We narrowed those 20 topics we have generated into 6 focus areas. Then Paul divided us into groups based on our main area of interest. He then gave us the next hour and a half to just explore that web 2.0 concept or tool and propose potential uses for it in education. It was really a good chance for people who were interested in something they had heard about to dig deeper into that topic.
After lunch, we all presented what we have found. We explored Twitter and Pownce; We explored Moodles, Blogs, and Wikis; We explored and created Skrbls. We explored del.icio.us. Friends (Brandon, Elisha, Ann and Mike) tweeted in to help me demonstrate Twitter and the power it has as a network. I learned about a number of modules within Moodle that might address some needs in my classroom as a one stop location, including discussion sections, chat sections, and places to post other content.
As the afternoon wore on, the student became the teacher when I clued Paul in to Jott and how to use it, which he in turn shared with the group, and by the end of the day, many people in the room had signed up for Jott accounts and were already using it to send themselves and others notes. And in the middle of the session, Kristin ran a test session of CoverItLive, which the group got to see unfold.
By the end of the day, everyone had come away with something new to use in either their classroom, and in some cases, people had new personal tools too.
Why was this a good model of professional development? It allowed teachers interested in transforming their classrooms and engaging their students time to explore something they might not have had time to otherwise. The gears were definitely turning all day long as this group of teachers took ownership of their own learning for a day.
Thursday, November 1, 2007
The Need for Human Contact
My building has definitely gone through an infusion of technology in the last eight months thanks to a grant provide by the state of Pennsylvania. With the grant came a series of on-line courses group under the header of the emBedded learning academy. The English and Math teachers in out building, recipients of round one of the Classrooms for the Future Grant, were required to take the first course last spring. The course is basically designed to get teachers thinking like 21st Century educators, and part of that is to get teachers out of their classrooms and interacting with the other members of their department for the advancement of teaching or the benefit of students.
With this thinking in mind, Julie, a member of my English department, proposed a professional development opportunity where teachers would get together to identify areas of student need. Once a need was identified, we would brainstorm possible approaches to the problem and all agree to try some of the approaches before our next meeting. The administration loved the idea, and with their blessing, a group was born. So, with that premise in mind, we got together a couple dozen teachers, Julie started a wikispace to be a record of our idea generating and results, and we got the teachers together. I thought our first meeting went incredibly well, and in the time we were together, we identified the first need we wanted to focus on and swapped some initial ideas for dealing with that need.
After the meeting, I was surprised to hear from one of the teachers that the gathering was a complete waste of time. "Why do we have to get together for a face-to-face meeting when we have the wiki?" Wow. I was completely blown away, and here I am two weeks later still grappling with this.
Why wouldn't teachers want to get out of their classroom and have collegial exchanges with other like minded individuals? Why wouldn't we want to have some human contact in a world where people sometimes allow technology to further isolate them? I mean, I look around my building and teachers have further withdrawn into their classrooms, feeling overwhelmed by everything new that has been thrown at them and the expectations that have come with it. When I do get a chance to talk with them, we get to talk about what we are doing and share some great ideas. Shouldn't this be the norm rather than the exception?
Since my ed-tech immersion started this past summer, I've acquired a number of online contacts; in fact, many of us who attended a conference together learned about Twitter there and stay in touch that way. That hasn't stopped us from trying to get together thought. A few of us met in a location central to all of us not too long ago and had a great get-together. We chatted not only about ed-tech issues but also about life, current events, and managing it all when feeling deluged. We got to see that we were all feeling the same way and able to share some ideas for getting along. On-line, the conversation might never have been that deep, and personally, I wouldn't trade those four hours for anything.
So, to close this blog-post out, I encourage all educators out there to maintain personal contacts with others in your community. The technology is great and can take us and our students to a plethora of new places, but get out and talk with people face-to-face. See and feel their struggle. Show your empathy. Share some ideas. Be a part of their support structure and find your own. We need human contact.
With this thinking in mind, Julie, a member of my English department, proposed a professional development opportunity where teachers would get together to identify areas of student need. Once a need was identified, we would brainstorm possible approaches to the problem and all agree to try some of the approaches before our next meeting. The administration loved the idea, and with their blessing, a group was born. So, with that premise in mind, we got together a couple dozen teachers, Julie started a wikispace to be a record of our idea generating and results, and we got the teachers together. I thought our first meeting went incredibly well, and in the time we were together, we identified the first need we wanted to focus on and swapped some initial ideas for dealing with that need.
After the meeting, I was surprised to hear from one of the teachers that the gathering was a complete waste of time. "Why do we have to get together for a face-to-face meeting when we have the wiki?" Wow. I was completely blown away, and here I am two weeks later still grappling with this.
Why wouldn't teachers want to get out of their classroom and have collegial exchanges with other like minded individuals? Why wouldn't we want to have some human contact in a world where people sometimes allow technology to further isolate them? I mean, I look around my building and teachers have further withdrawn into their classrooms, feeling overwhelmed by everything new that has been thrown at them and the expectations that have come with it. When I do get a chance to talk with them, we get to talk about what we are doing and share some great ideas. Shouldn't this be the norm rather than the exception?
Since my ed-tech immersion started this past summer, I've acquired a number of online contacts; in fact, many of us who attended a conference together learned about Twitter there and stay in touch that way. That hasn't stopped us from trying to get together thought. A few of us met in a location central to all of us not too long ago and had a great get-together. We chatted not only about ed-tech issues but also about life, current events, and managing it all when feeling deluged. We got to see that we were all feeling the same way and able to share some ideas for getting along. On-line, the conversation might never have been that deep, and personally, I wouldn't trade those four hours for anything.
So, to close this blog-post out, I encourage all educators out there to maintain personal contacts with others in your community. The technology is great and can take us and our students to a plethora of new places, but get out and talk with people face-to-face. See and feel their struggle. Show your empathy. Share some ideas. Be a part of their support structure and find your own. We need human contact.
Wednesday, October 3, 2007
If I could turn back time...
I was interviewed and videotaped today by the district Classrooms For the Future (CFF) coach about my experiences with the technology and the change in my classroom; this will all be part of presentation our tech staff will be doing tomorrow for districts getting the CFF grant for the first time. I was asked about how it fit with the district's vision, curriculum and Learning Focused School initiative and if I'd seen any changes with the students. One question, though, has really gotten me thinking this evening: "If all of the technology was taken away tomorrow, could you go back to teaching the old way."
Could I go back to teaching in a 20th Century Classroom? Although I've forgotten the exact wording of my answer at this point in time, the gist of my response was that I can't imagine going back. When I think of the disservice I was doing to my students, I'm almost appalled at how we were getting kids ready to be citizens in this new, smaller, connected world. I was doing the only thing I had ever known: teaching like I had been taught when I was a student when the world was much larger and the Internet wasn't as accessible as it is today.
I'm thinking of a new math teacher in our building as well tonight. Dan joined us nearly a year ago now, and he mentioned in a meeting this morning how he has already transformed his teaching. He has experienced the power of the Polyvision board and seen its impact on students. He realized he was simply teaching the way he had been taught when he was in school. Dan, because of his experiences with our Polyvision Board, has already begun transforming his teaching style; in fact, he's even actively seeking out available classrooms he can teach in that are equipped under the CFF program.
It is no longer a matter of whether we can go back in time; we cannot. We have reconnected with many of our students. We have engaged them on new levels. They are THINKING and INTERACTING. We must move forward. We must make the transformation.
Could you go back? Would you? This may be a worthwhile discussion worth having.
Could I go back to teaching in a 20th Century Classroom? Although I've forgotten the exact wording of my answer at this point in time, the gist of my response was that I can't imagine going back. When I think of the disservice I was doing to my students, I'm almost appalled at how we were getting kids ready to be citizens in this new, smaller, connected world. I was doing the only thing I had ever known: teaching like I had been taught when I was a student when the world was much larger and the Internet wasn't as accessible as it is today.
I'm thinking of a new math teacher in our building as well tonight. Dan joined us nearly a year ago now, and he mentioned in a meeting this morning how he has already transformed his teaching. He has experienced the power of the Polyvision board and seen its impact on students. He realized he was simply teaching the way he had been taught when he was in school. Dan, because of his experiences with our Polyvision Board, has already begun transforming his teaching style; in fact, he's even actively seeking out available classrooms he can teach in that are equipped under the CFF program.
It is no longer a matter of whether we can go back in time; we cannot. We have reconnected with many of our students. We have engaged them on new levels. They are THINKING and INTERACTING. We must move forward. We must make the transformation.
Could you go back? Would you? This may be a worthwhile discussion worth having.
Sunday, September 30, 2007
Skrbl - An online, collaborative whiteboard
A few days ago I blogged about an activity I'd run a couple weeks back and my desire to reduce some of the lectures I've given to increase student involvement and to make the whole affair a bit more meaningful to the kids. We, of course, know that when students DO, they are more likely to retain what they've done. One of my hopes was to make the activity even more asynchronous, active, and collaborative: make the kids less passive, make me even less of a gatekeeper and let the information develop and disseminate as the students located it using the resources available to them.
Immediately after that activity, I started looking for different options that would allow the students to record their findings as they came across them. I wanted something that was "live" and evolving. I wanted something that would allow posting, immediate display, and might encourage the kids to go look up something they had seen posted. I wanted something that would be easy to use for the kids. My CFF coach Laurie V happened by my room that same day, and I asked her for some ideas. We bantered around some initial ideas.
A wikispace was dismissed fairly quickly because of issues my co-workers had with multiple edits happening at the same time. Google Docs came up, but did I really want to take the time to get user names and passwords set up or have the students do so? For some reason I can no longer remember, SubEthaEdit was also ruled out. Free was definitely a concern as well as was the ability of up to 25 students (and perhaps as many as 30 in the future) to access at the same time.
A week passed, and I was coming up on my next novel introduction. It was time to get serious about this new approach I wanted to try. Enter SKRBL. (Get it yet?)
I don't know whether Laurie V mentioned this first (Laurie definitely mentioned something, but I inadvertently deleted that email) or I came across it over at EduWiki.us, but SKRBL definitely fit the bill. SKRBL (still thinking?) is an on-line interactive whiteboard that allows users to do all kinds of free hand and typed scribbling. (Ah, finally got it! Don't worry, it took 30 minutes before it dawned on me.) Free with no limit on simultaneous users, I thought I'd found my solution. As a bonus, boards can be either open to the public or password protected and saved as a static web-page for future reference when an activity is over. This was perfect!
So, last Wednesday night I set off to give it a field test. I created an account (very fast!) and set up both a public and password protected board. I drafted several fellow Twitterers (Thanks Chris C., Elisha, Kirk, and hmm, who else was it?) to give it a run. Up to three of us were on the public board at once, and I got a feel for how the password protected pages worked too. Granted three users was a far cry from 25, so I was just going to have to try it under real world conditions to see what would happen.
Friday morning, 8:00 a.m. was zero hour, and for some stupid reason, I invited some administrators by to see it in action. (What was I thinking? I'd never done this before!) Anyhow, I got laptops in the kids hands, explained the task, discussed the approach, and the kids were off and running. The activity ran pretty smoothly, except some of the kids couldn't initially post to the board. I thought we'd reached the limit of the site's capabilities at about ten users, but note this: Skrbl must be run using either IE 6 or 7 or Firefox 1.5 or 2.0; Safari on a Mac...no go. I projected the board from my laptop, and it was just incredible to watch the kids and the content start popping up on the board. Check out what 19 kids did in about 30 minutes here (a saved, static record of our work).
What would I do differently? The kids got in to playing with different text colors after awhile to make their notes stand out. When, in the middle of the activity, it struck me that I wanted different kinds of information color coded, I was pretty much screwed. In the future, perhaps I'll start have the kids start with black text and have the color coding happen later, or I'll just start with some color-coded categories from the get go. Still have to work on my direction giving for the paper support notes: I thought I made it clear I wanted facts recorded with citations as evidence of individual work. I'm going to have to work on a visual example for this I guess. Otherwise, I'm very pleased with how this activity ran (we'll see about the admin. on Monday), and Skrbl has a major fan in me!
Immediately after that activity, I started looking for different options that would allow the students to record their findings as they came across them. I wanted something that was "live" and evolving. I wanted something that would allow posting, immediate display, and might encourage the kids to go look up something they had seen posted. I wanted something that would be easy to use for the kids. My CFF coach Laurie V happened by my room that same day, and I asked her for some ideas. We bantered around some initial ideas.
A wikispace was dismissed fairly quickly because of issues my co-workers had with multiple edits happening at the same time. Google Docs came up, but did I really want to take the time to get user names and passwords set up or have the students do so? For some reason I can no longer remember, SubEthaEdit was also ruled out. Free was definitely a concern as well as was the ability of up to 25 students (and perhaps as many as 30 in the future) to access at the same time.
A week passed, and I was coming up on my next novel introduction. It was time to get serious about this new approach I wanted to try. Enter SKRBL. (Get it yet?)
I don't know whether Laurie V mentioned this first (Laurie definitely mentioned something, but I inadvertently deleted that email) or I came across it over at EduWiki.us, but SKRBL definitely fit the bill. SKRBL (still thinking?) is an on-line interactive whiteboard that allows users to do all kinds of free hand and typed scribbling. (Ah, finally got it! Don't worry, it took 30 minutes before it dawned on me.) Free with no limit on simultaneous users, I thought I'd found my solution. As a bonus, boards can be either open to the public or password protected and saved as a static web-page for future reference when an activity is over. This was perfect!
So, last Wednesday night I set off to give it a field test. I created an account (very fast!) and set up both a public and password protected board. I drafted several fellow Twitterers (Thanks Chris C., Elisha, Kirk, and hmm, who else was it?) to give it a run. Up to three of us were on the public board at once, and I got a feel for how the password protected pages worked too. Granted three users was a far cry from 25, so I was just going to have to try it under real world conditions to see what would happen.
Friday morning, 8:00 a.m. was zero hour, and for some stupid reason, I invited some administrators by to see it in action. (What was I thinking? I'd never done this before!) Anyhow, I got laptops in the kids hands, explained the task, discussed the approach, and the kids were off and running. The activity ran pretty smoothly, except some of the kids couldn't initially post to the board. I thought we'd reached the limit of the site's capabilities at about ten users, but note this: Skrbl must be run using either IE 6 or 7 or Firefox 1.5 or 2.0; Safari on a Mac...no go. I projected the board from my laptop, and it was just incredible to watch the kids and the content start popping up on the board. Check out what 19 kids did in about 30 minutes here (a saved, static record of our work).
What would I do differently? The kids got in to playing with different text colors after awhile to make their notes stand out. When, in the middle of the activity, it struck me that I wanted different kinds of information color coded, I was pretty much screwed. In the future, perhaps I'll start have the kids start with black text and have the color coding happen later, or I'll just start with some color-coded categories from the get go. Still have to work on my direction giving for the paper support notes: I thought I made it clear I wanted facts recorded with citations as evidence of individual work. I'm going to have to work on a visual example for this I guess. Otherwise, I'm very pleased with how this activity ran (we'll see about the admin. on Monday), and Skrbl has a major fan in me!
Wednesday, September 5, 2007
iClick, youClick: Clickers for learning
Last January, three of us on staff (myself, Justin & Koren) got a grant proposal together to buy and test the use of Classroom Response Systems (CRS) in our high school. We were quickly supported by our building principal and the folks in our tech. department, but alas, the wheels of progress were slow. We didn't get word of our grant approval until April (it was a district level grant, and I'd hoped for a quick response), and until the items were ordered and shipped, school was out.
Fast forward to the start of this school year, and we have the systems and are already plotting out various uses for them. Here's what can be reported so far:
We went with a company called iClicker. Started by a group of college professors, they worked under the premise that the technology shouldn't become intrusive; instead, it should just be a natural add-on, almost working in the background without being seen. Let me tell you, am I glad we went with this company.
The learning curve is quick. You can literally start the software and start using it right away with anything. Yes, ANYTHING. You can have a PowerPoint running and pop in a multiple choice question to check the kids understanding of a concept. You can have questions in a word processing document and scroll through the questions as you poll the kids. Heck, you can even handwrite a question on your interactive white board and use that as a polling question! The key to this product is that a screen shot is taken at the conclusion of each polling session, so the results of the question are linked directly to the question. Easy to add new questions on the fly.
Answers are collected by the RF (radio frequency) base station, and the instructor can see the results right away. On the projection screen, a timer runs (either up or down) while the count of respondents counts up. The instructor then has the choice to show the class the polling results or to keep them private. And although I haven't tried it yet, there's the potential to transfer grades to our grade book program.
They'll definitely be follow-ups to this post as we explore uses for the iClicker. I'm hoping to invite Justin & Koren to guest blog on their experiences as well.
Fast forward to the start of this school year, and we have the systems and are already plotting out various uses for them. Here's what can be reported so far:
We went with a company called iClicker. Started by a group of college professors, they worked under the premise that the technology shouldn't become intrusive; instead, it should just be a natural add-on, almost working in the background without being seen. Let me tell you, am I glad we went with this company.
The learning curve is quick. You can literally start the software and start using it right away with anything. Yes, ANYTHING. You can have a PowerPoint running and pop in a multiple choice question to check the kids understanding of a concept. You can have questions in a word processing document and scroll through the questions as you poll the kids. Heck, you can even handwrite a question on your interactive white board and use that as a polling question! The key to this product is that a screen shot is taken at the conclusion of each polling session, so the results of the question are linked directly to the question. Easy to add new questions on the fly.
Answers are collected by the RF (radio frequency) base station, and the instructor can see the results right away. On the projection screen, a timer runs (either up or down) while the count of respondents counts up. The instructor then has the choice to show the class the polling results or to keep them private. And although I haven't tried it yet, there's the potential to transfer grades to our grade book program.
They'll definitely be follow-ups to this post as we explore uses for the iClicker. I'm hoping to invite Justin & Koren to guest blog on their experiences as well.
Sunday, September 2, 2007
30 minute technology project
I had my doubts.
I was pretty sure what I was asking the kids to accomplish was doable, but I had my doubts.
I'd even done a dry run at an in-service I'd taught for other high school staff members; they had accomplished a very similar task in just about 30 minutes. At the inservice, I had advocated that technologically based products didn't need to take days to complete. I knew the theory was sound; however, there was still this lingering doubt about a practical, classroom application.
The students' task: take a picture of themselves using the on-board cameras on the MacBooks, send it to iPhoto, and create a postcard that told me something about them, so I could get to know them. All right, not a sound curricular connection, but my point in doing this on the second day of class was to give the kids an idea of the type of things I would be asking them to do during the coming semester. I wanted them to understand that class would pace quickly and that they would sometimes have to think quickly to accomplish a task.
The entire activity took 40 minutes instead of my planned 30, but this was well within the time frame I hope to accomplish some future projects. The extra time was a result of a quick demonstration of how to work through the process (I created a postcard of myself), brainstorming some items to share with me, and some technical difficulties we experienced as a result of new Internet filters and authentication software installed in the district this summer. All in all, I'm calling this one a resounding success.
What will make this activity work? A clear set of expectations set out as the students set off to work on a project: let them know what you (the teacher) expects to see as an end result. Be specific. Be precise. And tell the kids the time limit.
I'm anxious to try this now with a curricular connection and will be doing so this upcoming week when the students do character postcards based on a character from Of Mice and Men. But more on that later when I can report how that activity works out.
I was pretty sure what I was asking the kids to accomplish was doable, but I had my doubts.
I'd even done a dry run at an in-service I'd taught for other high school staff members; they had accomplished a very similar task in just about 30 minutes. At the inservice, I had advocated that technologically based products didn't need to take days to complete. I knew the theory was sound; however, there was still this lingering doubt about a practical, classroom application.
The students' task: take a picture of themselves using the on-board cameras on the MacBooks, send it to iPhoto, and create a postcard that told me something about them, so I could get to know them. All right, not a sound curricular connection, but my point in doing this on the second day of class was to give the kids an idea of the type of things I would be asking them to do during the coming semester. I wanted them to understand that class would pace quickly and that they would sometimes have to think quickly to accomplish a task.
The entire activity took 40 minutes instead of my planned 30, but this was well within the time frame I hope to accomplish some future projects. The extra time was a result of a quick demonstration of how to work through the process (I created a postcard of myself), brainstorming some items to share with me, and some technical difficulties we experienced as a result of new Internet filters and authentication software installed in the district this summer. All in all, I'm calling this one a resounding success.
What will make this activity work? A clear set of expectations set out as the students set off to work on a project: let them know what you (the teacher) expects to see as an end result. Be specific. Be precise. And tell the kids the time limit.
I'm anxious to try this now with a curricular connection and will be doing so this upcoming week when the students do character postcards based on a character from Of Mice and Men. But more on that later when I can report how that activity works out.
Wednesday, August 15, 2007
The Power of Advocacy
Returning from the Keystone Technology Institute (KTI), I had a renewed energy and excitement about teaching. I came away with many new ideas and thoughts about where we could take technology in my district. Before I even got home, I’d been invited in for a conversation with Jill M., one of our technology directors and a true educator. I went in with an agenda since I’d been thinking about so many things. My main focus: how we could use technology for professional development and to improve teacher-student interactions.
Our wide-ranging talk resulted in several immediate outcomes: the filter on the district network was opened to allow teachers greater access to Internet resources. For example, Twitter has been opened to teachers, and I hope to show my colleagues how they can use it not only for social connections but also for professional contact. (I know I’ve learned a lot from the small circle of people I follow on Twitter!) Because of mentioning the work of Kristen H at the Summit, Skype had already been opened up as a potential avenue for video conferencing.
On another front, I brought up the idea of using some flavor of instant messenger to keep teachers connected with their students. Why do this? The kids of today are connected, and one of those connections is IM. Why shouldn’t we connect with them in a way they are accustomed to and comfortable with? Anyhow…quite frankly, it seems like there’s a fear on some fronts about doing this, and I can understand that. It opens up a whole new form of teacher-student interaction, and what happens if there is an accusation of inappropriate contact? I’ve suggested, and am willing to be a part of, designing a district policy that would support this.
Finally, I brought back the idea of technology mentors from KTI, and Jill seems receptive to the idea. She brought up the idea of using a group called Cadre that we already have in place to help teachers new to the district become familiar with our technological policies and practices.
All in all, it never hurts to take ideas to the folks in charge, especially if they are open to team work and dialogue. Next up...what happened when I met with the building principal.
Our wide-ranging talk resulted in several immediate outcomes: the filter on the district network was opened to allow teachers greater access to Internet resources. For example, Twitter has been opened to teachers, and I hope to show my colleagues how they can use it not only for social connections but also for professional contact. (I know I’ve learned a lot from the small circle of people I follow on Twitter!) Because of mentioning the work of Kristen H at the Summit, Skype had already been opened up as a potential avenue for video conferencing.
On another front, I brought up the idea of using some flavor of instant messenger to keep teachers connected with their students. Why do this? The kids of today are connected, and one of those connections is IM. Why shouldn’t we connect with them in a way they are accustomed to and comfortable with? Anyhow…quite frankly, it seems like there’s a fear on some fronts about doing this, and I can understand that. It opens up a whole new form of teacher-student interaction, and what happens if there is an accusation of inappropriate contact? I’ve suggested, and am willing to be a part of, designing a district policy that would support this.
Finally, I brought back the idea of technology mentors from KTI, and Jill seems receptive to the idea. She brought up the idea of using a group called Cadre that we already have in place to help teachers new to the district become familiar with our technological policies and practices.
All in all, it never hurts to take ideas to the folks in charge, especially if they are open to team work and dialogue. Next up...what happened when I met with the building principal.
Wednesday, July 25, 2007
Thoughts approaching 2007-2008
I know my introduction states that the main focus of my blog will be on techniques I've tried in class as I transform the classroom from a traditional, industrial one to a 21st Century model. The school year is a good month off yet, but so much is going through my mind, I feel the need to share the vision I'm working with.
Two critical things have happened since November 2007 that have really gotten me thinking about what my classroom should look like: involvement with Classrooms for the Future (CFF) and Keystone Technology Integrators (KTI), both Pennsylvania initiatives.
CFF is on the surface about putting technology into the classroom and hands of both teachers and students, but I've come to understand it is more than that. At the heart of CFF is transforming the way we teach: approaching students in ways similar to the way they approach the world. Time and time again it is emphasized how connected the kids of today are and how quickly they can take in information. Traditionalists hold the kids back, so I'm going to endeavor to open up my classroom and make things a lot more free flowing.
KTI got me thinking a lot about how to make this transformation. In fact, I just have to say that KTI was the MOST rewarding conference/experience I have ever had, and it will transform the way I teach in many respects. I was exposed to various resources that will help me transform my lessons and activities into a 21st Century model. Besides that, it was an awesome networking experience. I met many like-minded educators who were all there for their students: learning to be a better teacher so the students are prepared to function in the fast-changing world around them. I know that many of us will collaborate on projects in the future.
Two critical things have happened since November 2007 that have really gotten me thinking about what my classroom should look like: involvement with Classrooms for the Future (CFF) and Keystone Technology Integrators (KTI), both Pennsylvania initiatives.
CFF is on the surface about putting technology into the classroom and hands of both teachers and students, but I've come to understand it is more than that. At the heart of CFF is transforming the way we teach: approaching students in ways similar to the way they approach the world. Time and time again it is emphasized how connected the kids of today are and how quickly they can take in information. Traditionalists hold the kids back, so I'm going to endeavor to open up my classroom and make things a lot more free flowing.
KTI got me thinking a lot about how to make this transformation. In fact, I just have to say that KTI was the MOST rewarding conference/experience I have ever had, and it will transform the way I teach in many respects. I was exposed to various resources that will help me transform my lessons and activities into a 21st Century model. Besides that, it was an awesome networking experience. I met many like-minded educators who were all there for their students: learning to be a better teacher so the students are prepared to function in the fast-changing world around them. I know that many of us will collaborate on projects in the future.
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