Are you looking for a
new interactive way of presenting your lessons in class? Then LectureTools, a web-based
application for creating interactive presentations in classroom is a great
idea.
What makes LectureTools
different? Let’s have a look at its special features:
Robust: Using
LectureTools, you cannot only import your PowerPoint presentations but also incorporate
multiple-choice, short-answer or ordering questions, as well as images and
videos onto slides.
Interactive: The Presentation
Dashboard offers a place for teacher-students and students-students interaction
just as texting via Facebook. Here the students can post questions (they can
decide to show their name or not) and follow the class discussions to facilitate
understanding. This function helps to encourage questions during class;
especially it is helpful to some shy students. It is perfectly done especially
in a classroom with teaching assistant who is there. In addition, because the
program is web-based, the questions and answers are automatically saved and can
be retrieved later.
Flexible:
Students can control the view of their individual screens, take notes on
slides, mark slides as confusing, bookmark slides to review later and direct
questions to instructors by typing inquiries into a comment box. Or if they
want to study from a distance, it is just possible.
Classroom management support: Teacher can review
the quality of their teaching and student performance in the lecture by
downloading the data about classroom interactions as a whole class or a particular
student after class.
Source: Retrieved from http://www.lecturetools.com/student-ipad-app
How to organize
and attend such a lecture? There are two conditions: internet connection and a
laptop, or a tablet or a smartphone on the part of the student. Regarding the
fee, it is free for teachers but students are charged a flat $15 fee at the
beginning of the semester.
In my
opinion, LectureTools is what we all expect how information technology can
support the teaching and learning process. It combines all the features of the most
ideal classroom at present: each student with a laptop coming to classroom, working
together on the e-platform, feeling free to answer questions and having more
opportunities to get the best support from the teachers and the classmates.
However, one
big head-aching question is the likelihood of the students to get distracted while
they are online because the teacher cannot monitor their screen. Second is the financial
problem as not all students can afford a laptop. Therefore, the implementation of
this new tool seems to be far-reaching on a large-scale, especially in disadvantaged
schools. Given that you are a teacher who is teaching in the school where One
Laptop per Child is running (OLPC); would you give it a try? Personally, I
would.
“Schoology is social network-based tool that
allows teachers to interact with students in a way that satisfies both
technological needs and curricular elements” (Manning, et al., 2011). With the
interface and functions similar to Facebook, this platform includes attendance
records, online gradebook, tests and quizzes, and homework dropboxes. Schoology
not only facilitates the connections among existing school reporting and
information systems but also among teachers, students and parents in a safe,
secure online environment.
According to International Business Times, in March 2012, Schoology was named as a finalist for the prestigious CODiE Awards given by the Software & Information Industry Association (SIIA) in three categories: Best Classroom Management System, Best Education Community Solution, and Best K-12 Course or Learning Management Solution. Schoology reached 1 million users, raised $6 million to expand its social networking platform for schools in April, 2012. With continuous efforts to offer users the best mobile technology in November 2012, Schoology App Center was launched, this app was fully supported by iPhone 5, the 5th generation iPod Touch, and any mobile device using iOS 6.0.
There are many competitors in the learning
management system space; primary services focused on education can be compared
as the following table:
As
teachers, we can manage the class with ease due to numerous useful functions as
posting academic content, check student attendance, preview the class from the
student’s viewpoints and so forth. Schoology not only help us keep our teaching
styles updated to the twenty-first century, but it also provides a bridge for
teachers to connect to students’ learning styles. Schoology enables students to
fulfill classroom work while having the ability to seamlessly communicate and
collaborate with fellows through a safe and secure network. Parents are given a
code to follow their student’s learning process which can be considered the
most significant benefit in terms of parental care to their children.
Computer-adaptive testing is a form of computer-based test that adapts to the examinee's ability level. For this reason, it has been called tailored testing, according to wiki. CAT selects questions so as to maximize the precision of the exam based on what is known about the examinee from previous question. Based on students response, the computer program adjusts the difficulty of the questions throughout the whole assessment. If the examinee performs well on an item of intermediate difficulty, he or she will be presented with a more difficult question. Or if he or she performs poorly, he or she will be presented with an easier item. As the assessment adapts to students' ability, the assessment can identify the skills that students mastered effectively and provide more accurate scores for all students.
The strength and pitfalls of it According to Smart Balanced Assessment Consortium website, computer-adaptive testing can provide more clear picture to teachers of what students are good at and what students still need help and additional support.And also by using this program teachers,parents and principals can get the result more quickly compared with traditional testing.CAT also provides teachers and schools a more accurate way to evaluate students' ability. And also, students love this type of exam. However,CAT can also be costly to be developed as it needs lots of test items and many pilot-testings must be conducted. Smarted Balanced estimates that once its adaptive tests are fully developed, its test bank will contain at least 30.000 items across all grades. But I still think it is worth as students can have a more accurate and fair assessment for their achievement and readiness of college and their future. Reference: http://www.edweek.org/dd/articles/2012/10/17/01adaptive.h06.html http://www.smarterbalanced.org/smarter-balanced-assessments/computer-adaptive-testing/ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computerized_adaptive_testing
This
is a Research on academic performance and technology by John Cradler, Mary McNabb,
Molly Freeman, and Richard Burchett, (2002).
The Center for Applied
Research in Educational Technology (CARET) has gathered compelling research and
evaluation findings to answer frequently asked questions about how technology
influences student learning process. Currivular Goals
1. "Achievement in content area learning
2. Higher-order thinking and problem solving
skill development
3. Workforce preparation" (Cradler,McNabb, Freeman & Burchett, 2002, p. 47).
1. Content Area Achievement
A review of studies conducted by the
CEO Forum (2001) emphasizes: “technology can have the greatest impact when
integrated into the curriculum to achieve clear, measurable educational
objectives.” In English language arts and social studies, teachers obsereved that the students skills change. The student knowleadge increased in the below characteristics:
• "Research skills,
• Ability to apply learning to real-world
situations,
• Organizational skills, and
• Interest in the content" (Cradler &
Cradler, 1999, p. 47).
2. Higher-Order Skills Development
" Higher-order
thinking and problem solving skills (e.g., information research, comparing and
contrasting, synthesizing, analyzing, and evaluating)" increase the students' content knowleadge and the realization of the content domains. (Cradler et
al., 2002, 47).
"The
technology tools for constructing artifacts and electronic information and
communication resources support the development of higher-order thinking skills." (Cradler et al., 2002, p. 48).
3. Workforce Preparation
Research shows that
when students learn to use and apply applications used in the world of work,
such as word processors, spreadsheets, computer-aided drawing, Web site
development programs, and the Internet, they aquire proper skills for their technology works. (Cradler, 1994, p. 49).
Concluding comments
The advantages of
this research are: that technology can be effectively in school
communities and help and support the students. It is important research with which
we can distinguish the positive influence which technology has in students and
help them to improve their abilities through the technology implementation in
the classroom.
Using Crazy Talk to Increase Student Learning with 1st Grades
Cradler, J.
(1994). Summary of research and
evaluation findings relating to technology
in education. San Mateo, CA: Educational Support
Systems.
Cradler, R.,
& Cradler, J. (1999). Just intime:
Technology innovation challenge grant year
2 evaluation report for Blackfoot School District No. 55. San Mateo, CA:
Educational Support Systems. Power M. (2009). Retrieved November 5, 2012, from http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=whvXX2H0Nfg
Monday, November 5, 2012
Flipped classroom - A backwards classroom
During the last years an alternative teaching method has been introduced within the classes mainly as a solution to
the strict class timetables. Although, most of the teachers are willing to apply
innovative teaching methods and techniques, such as the problem-based learning,
differentiated instruction and assessment, the immediate feedback, it seems
that the size of a class hour is in most of the cases prohibitive for these
kind of initiatives.
The " flipped classroom"came as a solution to this time management problem. The
traditional structure of a class hour indicates at first place a teacher’s
lecture and then students are given homework based on the lecture. According to
the flipped classroom lecture is becoming the homework! A teacher can use any
type of technology such as videos he made himself using screencast, you tube videos, blogs, open
educational resources, and interactive educational games in order to present
his lecture and students can watch it at their home at their own pace. Then the
classroom is basically becoming a field of interaction with students. Students
can apply their knowledge in exercises guided from the teacher who is now a
tutor for them. All the questions and problems that could be emerged from an
e-lecture can be discussed within the classroom using additional tools, team
projects and immediate feedback. The core of learning, meaning team work and
interaction with the teacher, more learning activities applied to the new
information, immediate feedback along with teacher’s guidance have now more
time to be applied and a class hour can be more productive (Bergmann & Sams, 2011)
The special feature of the flipped
classroom is that it is actually a form of blended learning. Technology and
educational technology is being used while the valuable role of teacher-tutor
is enhanced. Furthermore, educational technology can be used in different ways.
Only simple tools such as videos could be enough but also more complicated such
as open educational resources, and educational platforms depending on the
available school facilities or the children’s access to them. Moreover,
students at the same time are being introduced in the world of technology and educational
technology not as a different field of study but as an actual tool of learning and
experimenting (Hertz, 2012)
Of course important issues should be on
the table when it comes to technology and learning process, such as students’
accessibility to the needed tools. A teacher should keep them in mind and
adjust his teaching method. However, it seems that in the case of the "flipped
classroom" we can see technology even in its simplest form in the service of
education.
The follow article developed by Jane Quenneville (2001) and it is mentioned in the technology tools for
students with learning Disabilities (LD).
This article describes different approaches which teachers can use in classroom with children with Learning Dissabilities. It presents different examples of technology devices which they are usuful and intresting for children with learning dissabilities. These devices can increase the learning outcomes of these children and the adaptation in classroom.
Description
There are many technology devices which can help the children with learning disabillities.
Computer supports for
writing
Computers give the possibility to change the writing process and to develop and record ideas, to
edit ideas, and to publish and share with others. Jane Quenneville (2001), mention "word processors, word prediction,
portable note-taking devices, prewriting organizers, and multimedia prewriting
prompts."
Portable note-taking devices
Prewriting Organizers
Prewriting prompts: Multimedia software
Children with Learning Dissabilities can use the visual and other multimedia in order to have more benefits for writing and develompment of prior knowleadge.
"Bahr, Nelson, and VanMeter (1996) compared the
effects of two computer-based writing tools on the story-writing skills of
fourth through eighth grade students with LD." The researchers proposed that teachers can find a balance between time spent planning stories and time
generating actual text.
Benefits computers:
Editing and publishing
For
students with LD, computers, portable keyboards, and specialized software are advantages for their learning outcomes. Computers offer an improvement in the quality and quantity of writing in students with Learning Dissabilities. Finally, computers give the posibility to students to improve the works succesful. (Quenneville, 2001).
In addition, there are a software and one project which are proper for students with Learning Dissabilities and they are useful in order to help students to adjust in the classroom. You can see the"Totally Words",a learning software for children and adults with Down's Sydrome and the"AuRoRa Project"for Autistic children.
Concluding comments
Technology can help students with LD to adapt
in the classroom. It is an effective way to introduce students with LD in
classrooms and they feel more convenient and happy in classroom. It is
important to improve the technology tools in order to help students with LD and
students general.
Bahr, C. M., Nelson,
N. W., & VanMeter, A. M. (1996). The effects of
text-based and graphics-based
software tools on planning and organizing of stories.Journal of Learning
Disabilities, 29,355-370.
Quenneville, J.
(2001). Tech Tools for Students with Learning Disabilities: Infusion into Inclusive Classrooms. Journal of Preventing School Failure, 45(4),
167- 170. Retrieved
November 1, 2012, from
Exciting New Frameworks for Creating Open Educational Resources (OERs)
Two recent
developments for educators using Open Resource technologies have a lot of
potential; how they eventually pan out needs to be seen
On Oct 15, the 20 Million Minds Mix, a platform
that enables teachers or anyone for that matter to custom-make textbooks by
editing, revising, creating and reusing material in order to provide free/more
affordable learning material to students was launched. It has access to over 5
million units of materialfrom
Connexions, a collection of OER and more than 140 academic publishers. The
platform helps in speedy composition, pricing and delivery, besides a real-time
copyright clearance for articles/textbooks. Dean Florez, president of the foundation
states,“We strongly believe that giving
educators a space that provides an abundance of resources and the flexibility
for building low cost textbooks is the perfect recipe for making substantive change
in the textbook industry."
Google’s Course Builderwhich was
launched in September this year is an open source application to custom build courses.
A comprehensive online tool for building learning resources with scheduled
activities and lessons, basically to provide an online education. There is also
a provision for ‘Hangouts on Air’ for live teaching. However basic skill with
JavaScript, HTML and the Google App Engine is required. It is therefore perhaps more aimed
towards institutions looking to put
large courses online rather than individual instructors. According to Google, Stanford
University, Indiana University, UC San Diego and Swiss Federal Institute
of Technology in Lausanne (EPFL) among others have shown an interest. It is
experimental in nature and in line with Google’s other educational initiatives
likeGoogle Apps for EducationandGoogle in Education.
Introductory video of Google Course Builder
These
two developments are huge steps forward and hopefully will give a boost to the generation
and sharing of more accessible educational resources. They will definitely be a
help in creation and construction of new knowledge by serious educators and its
more accessible delivery to learners. Of course, they are both too new to be evaluated
critically at this stage. Many factors like quality assurance, technical
knowledge required, ease of use, acceptance by primary users will determine
what shape and form they take in future.
Following the self-instruction discovery that students teach themselves in India through the hole-in-the wall experiments Sugata Mitra went on to further these findings. The Granny Cloud Teaching approach attempts to 'Deepen the students learning experience' (Sugata Mitra) using the method of or like a Grandmother-stand behind the children and admire them. Using a recruitment base in the UK, where he lectures at Newcastle University - A recruitment for 'grandmother' volunteers who had broadband and were willing to devote an hour of free time was undertaken. the chosen volunteers would then connect to a rural area and speak, encourage, talk to the children.The move and ideas have now equally been adopted in schools in the UK with its application of computers in schools for classroom group work.
As with his initial experiments, I believe the use of the internet and a volunteer group to facilitate and spread the possibility of transferring information, and generating learning in underdeveloped and rural areas is important. Sugata Mitra often refers to the idea that because of the fact that these areas are poor or rural they often do not attract the best teachers nor always are economically able to maintain schools. Therefore this approach is another method at spreading information this time in a more personal manner than his initial hole in the wall experiments.
However, in being an approach that attempts to 'close the gap' it is also important to think that not everywhere will they be capable of adopting this self-regulated learning. Firstly, in some areas just trying to get a broadband connection may prove difficult -so technical issues and availability may be problematic.
Additionally, this is a good idea for learning the basics…and building perhaps a certain amount of knowledge but not for in-depth studies-it can only bring one so far. Some form of 'teacher', which is more skilled than the 'grandmother' will at some point need to come into play.
Lastly, as with everything the social context and culture may come to affect the opportunities in that children may be prevented from learning with the tool in the first place; with ideals that they have other tasks and chores to perform for the family, and varying opinions on girls versus boys educational needs to name a few.
“Not allowing students to use the Internet is like taking a modern soldier, taking away his gun and gear and telling him to fight.” – UK Sugata Mitra, Newcastle
According to Wikipedia, a massive open online course (MOOC) is a type of online course aimed at large-scale participation and open access via the web MOOCs are a recent development in the area of distance education, and a progression of the kind of open education ideals suggested by open educational resources.
Though the design of and participation in a MOOC may be similar to
college or university courses, MOOCs typically do not offer credits
awarded to paying students at schools. However, assessment of learning
may be done for certification.
Also Wikipedia shares that MOOCs originated from within the open educational resources movement and connectivist roots. More recently, a number of MOOC-type projects have emerged independently, such as Coursera, Udacity, and edX.
The prominence of these projects' founders, contributing institutions,
and financial investment helped MOOCs gain significant public attention
in 2012. Some of the attention behind these new MOOCs center on making e-learning more scalable either sustainable or profitable.
According to Willey David MOOCS are Massive but not open, Open but not Massive, and they try hard not to be courses.
According to Educause’s ELI“7 Things You Should Know About MOOCs”,
the first MOOC is widely thought to be a course titled “Connectivism
and Connective Knowledge,” which was co-taught by George Siemens and
Stephen Downes at the University of Manitoba, delivered to 25
tuition-paying students but offered at the same time to around 2,300
students from the general public who took the online class at no cost.
You can organize a MOOC in any setting that has connectivity
(which can include the Web, but also local connections via Wi-Fi e.g.)
You can organize it in any language you like (taking into account the main language of your target audience)
You can use any online tools that are relevant to your target region or that are already being used by the participants
You can move beyond time zones and physical boundaries
It
can be organized as quickly as you can inform the participants (which
makes it a powerful format for priority learning in e.g. aid relief)
Contextualized content can be shared by all
Learning happens in a more informal setting
Learning
can also happen incidentally thanks to the unknown knowledge that pops
up as the course participants start to exchange notes on the course’s
study
You can connect across disciplines and corporate/institutional walls
You don’t need a degree to follow the course, only the willingness to learn (at high speed)
You add to your own personal learning environment and/or network by participating in a MOOC
You
will improve your lifelong learning skills, for participating in a MOOC
forces you to think about your own learning and knowledge absorption
Possible challenges of a MOOC
It feels chaotic as participants create their own content.
It demands digital literacy.- Which in the digital age is still a persistent issue.
It demands time and effort from the participants.
It is organic, which means the course will take on its own trajectory (you have got to let go).
As a participant you need to be able to self-regulate your learning and possibly give yourself a learning goal to achieve. Researches show that with the development of blended learning, students still prefer a reasonable combination between face- to- face meetings and online learning.
If relate this information to information gained earlier, automatically
comes the idea that this kind of innovation will require time and money
to make it work. Also there will always be one who wants to earn money
out of new ideas. (Or one who has to loose a lot of money because of new ideas). In next video see 0.26 " Innovation is turning ideas
into money..."
Even though we'e reached a high level of humanism, there are higher values in the society that persist leading nations. Make education open will not be as easy as it seems. The expression " Elite education open for masses" is already in its deeper content discriminative and antidemocratic.
Indefinite amount of students will be the issue that will create further problems in the process. Taking in account that fact that students do not pay for it, there will definitely be a lot of student willing to do that. The question about quality& quality needs to be addressed then.
This idea then goes against the EU higher education policy and Bologna process, which students to have the same level after graduation in order to assure mobility throughout EU and outside EU and to assure quality of education.
Whether MOOC is a threat to the Higher Educational System worldwide, is being discusses. George Siemens, the founder of the first MOOC, predicted during a speech
about transformational change at Campus Technology 2012, "The top tier
and elite universities will likely continue to have physical campuses;
the midtier levels, on the other hand, are the ones that are going to
suffer to the greatest degree."
As Washington post claims, lately MOOC providers include a fledgling nonprofit competitor, edX, which has
drawn hundreds of thousands of users to free online courses from Harvard
University, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the
University of California at Berkeley. On Oct. 15, the University of
Texas system joined them.
MOOC students, for the most part, aren’t earning credit toward degrees.
Educators say that before credits can be awarded, they must be assured
that there are adequate systems to prevent cheating and verify student
identities.
Burck Smith, chief executive of Straighter Line,
which sells low-price online courses, contends that MOOCs are
overhyped. He said universities that give their product away are likely
to face challenges similar to those newspapers confronted when they
launched open-access Web sites.
“Free content has never really been a successful business model,” Smith said.
For extra info see:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Massive_open_online_course
http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/elite-education-for-the-masses/2012/11/03/c2ac8144-121b-11e2-ba83-a7a396e6b2a7_story.html
http://nation.time.com/2012/09/04/mooc-brigade-will-massive-open-online-courses-revolutionize-higher-education/
http://www.forbes.com/sites/sap/2012/09/06/massive-open-online-course-a-threat-or-opportunity-to-universities/
https://sites.google.com/site/themoocguide/
http://mobiliteitenopenonderwijs.wordpress.com/2012/09/22/weer-mooc/
http://opencontent.org/blog/archives/2436
According toGamifyingEducation.orggamification is the use of game-like thinking and elements in places
that aren't traditionally games. The use of game mechanics and dynamics
like badges, leaderboards, and actions can be useful for improving
motivation and learning in informal and formal settings. As in the Oxford dictionary "gamification" is the application of typical elements of game
playing (e.g. point scoring, competition with others, rules of play) to
other areas of activity, typically as an online marketing technique to
encourage engagement with a product or service.
A
new term emerged during research, and namely "Serious Game", which is according to Wikipedia a game
designed for a primary purpose other than pure entertainment. The word "Gamification" was the word of the year 2011, and it entered the Educational field in 2012. Implementing games use in Education leaded to a
new instructional model GBL- game based learning or DGBL- digital
based learning. A lot of theoretical research has been made lately about gamification. But few implementation has followed. Discussions are made about advantages and disandvatages of using GBL. Game being the root of "Gamification" it is relevant to know what the last one is. Among others "game" is:
- any activity undertaken or regarded as a contest involving rivalry, strategy, or struggle.
They say children and youth are ready for GBL, even though learners need a PC and Internet connection (material issues). But teachers, parents and governments are not ready for this change.
Games are interesting, catchy and highly instructional as I've experienced it myself. Entertainment is what we lack in days of full schedule, so I would tend to think that developing GBL models for grown ups would also give extra motivation and support for life long learning processes.
Paulo Coehlo (whom I read sometimes for entertainment) in the Romanian version of " Aleph", clearly expresses hatred for academic books. And I've noticed myself how boring those can be. Here is where GBL would be a great alternative that leads to academical success.
Extra info on:
http://gamification.org/
http://www.gamifyingeducation.org/
http://ibuchem.wordpress.com/2011/12/30/gamification-in-education-2012/
http://blog.oup.com/2011/11/squeezed-middle/
http://www.scoop.it/t/gamification-education-and-our-children/p/1733269509/get-ready-for-the-gamification-of-healthcare
