Wicked Problem Project Presentation

 

Wicked Problem
 I teach a sixth grade typing course. At the beginning of the year, the program that the district uses as their instructional tool did not work at any of the schools in the district. It also didn't include an assessment tool that teacher found acceptable. Furthermore, the tool that teachers did like did not have the capability to record and store student data.

• Want more? See my original blog posting HERE.

Wicked Solution
 I found a free website that assists in the instruction of proper typing skills. In order to record their scores I worked hard to get students eligible to participate in the districts new Google accounts, and then instructed them on the use of various Google applications, but first using Google Spreadsheets as a means to record their scores. Not only were students now able to work from home, but all their data could be shared with all stakeholders including the students themselves, teachers, and their parents.

• Want more? See my original blog posting HERE. 

Wicked Connection to TPACK
TP - Reporting scores with Google Spreadsheets allows ALL stakeholders to view the data. It also creates a much cleaner workspace that is accessible in multiple locations.

TC - Technology improved the instruction of my content by allowing my classroom to exist in many places. It also enhanced my content because I ended up teaching students how to use various web 2.0 tools including Google Drive applications and blogging that I would not have otherwise covered in my classroom.

PC - I switched from using Microtype to TypingWeb and Typing Test in order to allow students to work on their improving their content skills right away. This change also allowed me to extend the classroom to any place with an internet connection.

• Want more? See my original blog posting HERE. 

Professional Learning Plan

You can skip the following video and read my comments about my PLN, or you can simply watch me talk about it!


As a student in the Masters in Teaching and Curriculum program, and also working towards a personal goal of earning a certificate for teaching with technology, I have followed two major goals: obtaining skills to enhance the learning experience for my students, and increasing my own personal efficacy as a teacher. I have had the opportunity to work in environments where technology was readily available, and in environments where technology was near non-existent.
While enrolled in CEP 810 in the fall of 2011, I identified some specific goals I had for myself as far as my use of technology as an educator is concerned.

• I wanted to stop simply using technology as a presentation tool I myself used, and start having students be the main users of the technology.
• I wanted to begin to re-purpose technology originally meant for other uses in order to incite student interest and to improve my own instruction.
• I wanted to transform my class websites from being a storage place of class materials to a forum for collaboration.
• By using Google Docs (Now known as Drive)
• I wanted to increase my social media presence.
• I wanted to begin the process of creating flipped instruction.

Most of the goals I set for myself at that time have been either fulfilled or partially fulfilled. I now use technology to present my classroom instruction nearly every day, but I also ask my students to respond to me using the same technology technology. For example, my daily warm ups are presented on our course site, and students must navigate to the warm up themselves in order to respond.

 

In addition to using my course site in a more interactive way, I have implemented the use of Google Docs. First, I instructed students on how to use docs one-on-one. Then I taught students to create their own docs. And now my students are creating docs from templates, on their own, and collaborating in groups of 1-30 students. We have done so much collaboration that several times Google has actually maxed out our documents and put students on a waiting list to participate.

This is a Google Spreadsheet my student uses to keep track of their typing scores.

This is a picture of a Google Doc I downloaded. Every student wrote what they thought on here, and then they responded to one another. In 5 minutes of work, 19 7th graders wrote a seven page document.

This student made their own post card using a template provided to them through Google Presentation

In order to make my instruction so tech based, and to get my students using the same technology, I have had to do a lot of instruction on how to use the technology. The thing about that is that everyone learns at very different paces in this regard particularly, and a lot of comfort in using technology is based on repetition. As such, I wanted my instruction to be such that students could make me go back and re-explain things. The best way to do that was to make recordings and screen casts, and that is exactly what I have done. In fact, there have been days that I had to go to meetings and I still gave instructions and/or lectures through the magic of the internet.

This is an assignment I have students while I was out. In the video at the top, I did a screencast where I went through the process (again) of how to use the program, and then talked a little bit about the assignment and the content that is involved in it. The "Post Card" above is the end product of this assignment.

With less success, I have begun to re-purpose technology for the classroom. I am currently working with another teacher to create an interactive whiteboard using Wii remotes and an IR pen. We have been delayed in our project first from being an a waiting list for the IR pen for about an month, and then when our shared LCD projector was stolen. We now have everything in place and have begun testing, but have not gotten everything quite right yet. I have also been experimenting with using cell phones in the classroom, but have experienced some difficulty with reception. At this point, using web based questionnaires and quizzes seems to be much more reliable.

I have mostly failed to create a social media presence. I felt I was communicating a great deal through my course page and mass email, and at that point social media did not seem like a platform I would gain much from. At this time, that is no longer a goal of mine, but I will continue to evaluate that status in the future.

As I move forward, I want to continue to develop and advance these goals. I am also going to begin to commit a lot more time to collaborating with other teachers in order to create my flipped instruction. I have always believed that two heads are better than one, and now that I feel more comfortable in my own skin as an educator, I think I can begin to share myself and embrace the identity of others as well. I will mostly complete this work with coworkers on site, but I may also look to my personal support network, and the greater network of social studies and technology educators as well.

Support Group Map from a previous course

Group Leadership Final Project

My group has been working with Google throughout our creative process. We specifically decided that we wanted to focus on effective uses of Google Forms, Google Spreadsheets, and Google Presentation. We wanted to share some of our findings with our peers, and so we decided to create a presentation. We worked together in live time using Google Hangout and creating our presentation by making a Google Presentation (Google's version of PowerPoint). Each of us used texts and images in order to populate our slides. Most of our images were generated from screenshots taken of our work in the applications. We put it all together use a combination of Jing and Screencast-O-Matic. We did this because it allowed us to each have our voices in there, but also combine all of our videos into one. Throughout the presentation, each of us used visuals, text, graphics, and oral strategies to demonstrate the applications.

Working with a people online is a unique experience. I have done group work online before, but never as collaborative as this assignment. Video chatting and real time collaboration (not to mention merged together) is fundamentally changing peoples ability to meaningfully collaborate in cyberspace. Prior to beginning this course, as well as this assignment, I had never used Hangout, nor most of the tools our group covered. Now, I am working to educate others (including explicit instruction in my 6-8 class) on how to use them.

In the future I might go about making my final presentation differently. We searched for a free open source we could work on together in real time, but options in that sense were pretty limited. Ultimately, you get what you pay for, and for this we wanted to maintain a zero budget. I think I will continue to also develop web based instructions for how to use these tools as I teach my students the ropes. But for a professional I think this video is good in showing you what you can do without overwhelming one with details. When it comes to using Google Docs, the best way to learn is by trying.

(For a clearer image, set the video quality to 720p)
Reflection Questions:

• What tool did your group use to deliver the PD tutorial? Why? 
• What did you learn during the development process of the final product? 
• What would you do differently if you had to develop a similar product again?

Mobile Learning Lab: Poll Everywhere

Having One-to-One schools is a tough goal to achieve. They require the investment of a tremendous amount of money, especially for larger districts. There has been some research recently regarding the effectiveness of schools achieving one-to-one environments by issuing all students smart phones. The trick is that many of the features of the cellphone are disabled. Phone companies have actually begun to partner with schools in order to do this. One such example is Verizon Wireless. I think that using cell phones as a gap to computers is an interesting idea, but obviously there are some limitations as to what one can do using a cellphone. From my own experience with both tools, I can say with certainty that a laptop is much more powerful and has much larger capabilities. If one were to consider the fees associated with access to the phones I would think that the dollar figure per year would be similar to the full cost of a low grade laptop. At any rate, I think cellphones do have some functionability in the classroom.

In a district like the one I work in, most students have a cell phone with them at all times. I decided to use the website "Poll Everywhere" to test out using cellphones in the classroom. Prior to using cellphones in my classroom, I polled students asking:

• First I asked how many students had phones either pocket or back packs at that very moment; about 2/3's of my students raised their hands. 
• I then asked any student who had a cell phone but did not have it in class to raise their hands. Only one student out of thirty did not have their hand raised at this time. Meaning, only one student does not have a cellphone.

At this point, I asked that each student bring their phone in the next class session, and for the student that did not have a phone, or those who are not allowed to, I provided a computer. Instead of giving a traditional quiz, I created one using "Poll Everywhere." I have helped others use the site before, but had not used it in my own classroom, and thus did not have instructional experience with it. I shared information about the website on MACUL Space back in November. On MACUL space I inadvertently called the website "Poll Anywhere." That is not the name of the website, but Poll Everywhere does own the domain name as well, so if anyone attempts to use it they will be routed to the correct site regardless.

See my post in the image below.

I ran into a problem the week I was going to use Poll Everywhere in my classroom...I use to have a projector in the room I teach my 8th grade US History course is in, but another teacher removed it from the room and hijacked it for their own use. Poll Everywhere displays the poll of quiz questions almost like a power point, and at the same time provides students with numerical and letter directions on how to participate and "login" to a specific quiz. As such, one needs a projector. For this reason I signed up for the computer lab so that I could take my class to a room with a projector. Our display (and my subsequent Google Drive lesson), went very well, but I ended up having one very big problem: the computer room is on the first floor, and thick cinder block walls, and no windows. Which is to say, my students could not get any reception in the room. We then had to scrap the project. I had created a small quiz for them to take, but due to the issues I ended up just getting eight volunteers to meet me at lunch in the commons (huge ceilings and windows!) in order to take the quiz while crowded around a laptop. It went well, but obviously I will have to find out if...

1. I get reception in the other classrooms I work in
2. where the LCD projector went, and if I can get it back before I invest time or money into his website.

From my results I tell my students know the US had conflict with Britain, but it is clear my students by and large are unaware of the problems that the United States had with other countries. to be fair it could just be that students were eagerly looking for the first "correct" answer they saw. Had I known this during class, it would have allowed me to address the issue right away. If I used this site more in the future, I could use it to inform my teaching and let me know when I need to go backwards and review some things in all my classes. Poll Everywhere is a good tool, but only if I can work out the other kinks.