Blog Experience

Hi Group,

I wanted to end this semester with a brief view towards the blogging experience. This is the second course inwhich I had to maintain a blog. I feel that it offers alot of potential for the exchange of ideas between students. This will allow them to interact more with each other and inturn feel more comfortable to interact with the instructor.

My main goal is to increase comprehension by increasing interaction. Blogging appears to have the ability to accomplish this goal. I will have to decide how to include this in my sections next fall.

I thank all of you for an interesting semester and I look forward to working with you again in the Ed. Tech. program.

Best wishes,

Ken

Sound instruction

Hi Group,

I found this article: Instructor-student Interaction by Juan Jose Gutierrez, http://www.usdla.org/html/journal/MAR00_Issue/Instructorstudent.htm and wanted to discuss two lines from it. In the article, Gutierrez stated that “when the dust of the rush for the new cybernetic horizon settles we will understand that traditional instructors have been right all along: it is not the new technologies but the basic principles of good practice what make learning occur. In the computer mediated instructional environment, only those programs where the basic characteristics of sound teaching, learning and assessment are applied will stand firm”

We have spent the past seven weeks discussing the roles and uses of new technologies in our classrooms but we must remember what we are there for. Technology is a tool that can increase the learning experience if used effectively. However, technology cannot replace poor instruction. I hope that administrators remember this when evaluating us in the classroom.

I thought that this was a great quote to use as the semester draws to a close to remind us to blend the ideas together.

Thanks,

Ken

Action Research

Hi Group,

Today I was going to talk about an article I found: "Improving Teacher-Student Interaction in the EFL CLassroom: An Action Research Report" http://iteslj.org/Articles/Snell-Interaction.html

However, I've decided to talk about action research. I had a class from another university on action research and I must admit that I liked the process for improvement. Action research allows the educator to take an active role in the improvement of thier own classroom. In the process, you select an issue that you want to address, you conduct a literature review, propose a method of experimentation and data gathering. Finally, you review the data and determine the effectiveness of your experience.

It is a great process because it is centered around you and your classroom. You can make it as grand or as small as you feel comfortable with. In the end, you are able to generate a report to give to your administration to show that you have been active towards improvement. I would suggest that everyone try it atleast once and go from there. As we talk about increasing the use of technology in our classroom, we can use it to gater evidence to support our statements.

Ken

Technology & Fear

Hi Group,

To wrap this week up, I was thinking about our assignment for next week - the movies. As I debated on the movie to discuss, I was starting to think about people and their fear towards new technology. How or when do we become afraid of technology. Does it require a bad experience or possibly your upbringing to be afraid of something? In terms of technology, the sci-fi movies over the years have shown "good" technology about as often as "bad" technology. We have seen plenty of friendly robots versus bad just like nice versus evil computers.

So why are people reluctant to use technology? I guess we are all afraid of the unknown to some extent. Maybe we don't want to look foolish infront of others. I guess the reason why I am bringing this up is that this is an area that we must all look into. If we can ease not only the fears of our students but our own as well, then we may truly incorporate technology into the classroom.

Thanks for your input in this area,

Ken

Student survey

Hi Group,

I was looking for more articles on student-teacher interactions and I came across this one: “Student-teacher interactions and better science teachers”: http://www.iier.org.au/qjer/qjer18/waldrip.html

I thought that this was an interesting article because I want to increase interaction so comprehension can increase but this article looked at interaction from the student’s perspective. The article discussed a survey, the Questionnaire on Teacher Interaction (OTI), that was administered to secondary students.

Overall, the found that “better teachers could be identified through the perceptions of their students on the scales of the QTI. The better teachers could be identified as those whose students' perceptions were more than one standard deviation above the mean on the scales of Leadership, Helping/Friendly, and Understanding and more than one standard deviation below the mean on the Uncertainty, Dissatisfied and Admonishing scales.”

This survey/ article does add to one of my postings from last week that personality is important in the classroom. A teacher must be a positive type of person to help promote interaction. I remember a few of my instructors in college who carried that “tough, better than you attitude” into the classroom. That was the last person I would ever ask for help. Now that we are on that side of the podium, we must be better than them.

Ken

The Media Equation

Hi Group,

I just finished reading chapter 1 of "The Media Equation" by Reeves (1996). In it, the author wrote about medai equaling real life and how humans fail to make the seperation. The first thought that came to mind was watching too many Star Trek episodes. In the show, and in many other sci-fis, there is a "friendly-voiced" computer that the star interacts with to solve problems like you would do with a friend. I feel that we have been conditioned over the years to act like this towards media. On the show Knight Rider, the talking car wass the best friend of the star.

Another thing that came to mind was our increased interaction with media while real personal interaction has dropped. People spend more time with thier computers than they do with real people. Emails, for example, are forms of communication but it seems to be more with the computer than with someone on the other end.

I wanted to point these two ideas out because the author discussed the idea of the "old brain" in the modern world. As we evolved, we had constant interaction with others but that has been drastically reduced in less than 50 years. Too quick for our old minds to evolve with.

Just some ideas,

Ken

Reeves, Byron, and Clifford Nass. 1996. "Ch 1, The Media Equation," pp. 3-18 in The Media Equation. Cambridge University Press.

Down hill side

Hi everyone,

I was just thinking about this semester because we are now on the downhill side of the course. I must admit that I have learned alot from all of you by reading your blogs. I wasn't sure on how effective this was going to be but I must change my opinion. No matter the area of concentration, its great to see teachers who are still excited about their career and want to learn more to become a better teacher. I have seen too many who are now in the "I love my summers off" mode.

I have four courses remaining in this program before my oncampus visits and in that time I hope to find some online chat rooms or postings that I can participate in. Exchanging ideas between subjects as well as geographic regions keep one fresh in their are. So, my question for the week: Has anyone for discussion boards outside of U.F. that they will continue to participate in??

Thanks and have a nice weekend,
Ken

Online Student Interaction

Hi group,

Today, I found an article on the web titled: Software for Online Student Interaction, http://www.stanford.edu/~marcelo/Teaching/Papers/SoftwareforOnlineStudentInteraction.pdf

It was an interesting article about the use of online instruction for economics at Stanford University. Essentialy it had two main components. The first looked at the issue of office hours and the student. They made several suggestions but the two that I thought were interesting was the use of a white board by the professor so he/ she could draw graphs, etc. and send them to the student while working in a chatroom. This would supplement the text discussion going on. The other was the idea of connecting a webcam so students could watch and interact with traditional oncampus students as they entered the office. They could listen to the questions and submit followup if desired. However, the camera would be turned off if private issues were being discussed. Both techniques would allow distance students to interact more like traditional students.

The other area discussed in the paper was the adaptation of classroom experiments for online use. The online biology classes at my school are only hybrids - the students must come on campus every two weeks for the lab component. However, it would be interesting to see if some of our labs could be modified to reduce this requirement. One area I think that I will look into is the use of case studies or webquests. I just have to find items that are level appropriate for my students.

Thanks,
Ken

Ten tips for improving relationships

Hi group,

I was doing an article search and I came across the following article: Morganett, L. (1995) Ten tips for improving student-teacher relationships. Social Education. Jan. v59, p.27-29.

The reason why I bring this article up is that fact that it is so simple. I am trying to use technology to increase interaction but I must remember the basics before I move on to the advanced.

One of the tips is the idea that teachers should encourage students to ask questions and for teachers to instruct with a positive frame of mind. The first may be easy to accomplish online, I wonder about the second. I guess we must think about our word selection and the context of our sentences. We must be clear on our meanings so students online will not misinterpret them. The author also wrote about taking an interest in the students outside of the classroom. This is hard enough at the community college level where I see some students for five hours, one night a week but how can we do this online?? The author feels that this increasedd interaction will allow the instructor to obtain a better understanding of the socio-economical background of the student. In an online class, the student could post whatever they want so this may not benefit the instructor.

Finally, the author stated that the rate and types of questions would increase once the students feel that the instructor is impartial and is truly concerned about their learning. I do agree with this statement, no matter where the learning is occurring (in a classroom or online). A positive attitude and a sense of concern should generate an openness no matter where the students are located.

Thanks,
Ken

Tech in the science classroom

Hi,

I came across this article while looking for technology in the science classroom: http://edlab.tc.columbia.edu/files/EdLab_Krajcik.pdf
It is an article about the use of technology including Palm applications in K-12 classrooms. The one thing I found interesting was that the article reported on a study in which there was no significant difference in Pre- versus Post test results over a two year period. They compared student with and without the Palm technology. I laughed when they proposed that one reason for the lack of improvement was the "strict teachers that prohibited students from using the Palms creatively". I would think that a teacher would allow their use if they agreed to participate in the study.

The article also pointed out the typical need/ barrier for effective use: Accessibility, Cost, and Digital Storage Space which would contain "repositories filled with lesson plans, software, etc."

It was a four page article reviewing the work of Prof. Joe Krajcik from the University of Michigan. I wish there would have been more of a followup on how the Palm applications were used during the year. Was it used just as a calendar or did they obtain data/ manipulate data with it?

Ken

Hi Group,

I know that my topic is to increase interaction in the classroombut today I wanted to look at the use of animation to help make a connection. The following website: http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/gcsebitesize/teachers/biology/activities.shtml

has a number of biology related topics that the instructor could use to supplement their instruction. All of the segments are short and too the point. Some students are more visual than others so this may assist with increasing comprehension. Also, the isnstructor could include this link on a school website for the students to explore.

I do wish that the site included more information to guide the student as they view the video. These are not intended to stand alone and should not replace instruction.

Ken

A plan to implement technology

Hi Group,

I can across an interesting website that I wanted to share: http://www.public.asu.edu/~lauralou/teaching/athena.html
This is the site for the Athena Project. It is an outline from Arizona State University on a project they implemented to "help teachers move into learner centered computer classrooms". It is a short article but I wanted to share it with the group because it could be used as a template at our institutions. I am sure that we will work with the administration to increase or improve the number of online classes currently offered.

I will admit that the article maybe a bit weak but it does emphasize the need for learner centered strategies as we transition from a tradional to technology based lectures. I also liked the fact that the participants in the program shared their experiences by serving as mentors for the next group. This will ingrain the positive results of the program.

Thanks, Ken

CATs

Hi everyone,

I wanted to finish this week off with a website that introduces the idea of classroom assessment techniques (CATs). The following website: http://www.ntlf.com/html/lib/bib/assess.htm
contains a nice introduction on what CATs are, when to use them and how they help both the teacher and student. It does give a brief description of some of the smaller and easier CATS to use, including muddy points and minute papers. The site does reference the text by Angelo and Cross. I feel that this site would be helpful to get your feet "wet" in this topic and then you my progress to the larger CATs given in the text.

Ken

Muddy Points

Hi Group,

This is a follow up to my last point to explain my use of "muddy points". Muddy points are one of the assessment techniques listed in the following text which appears to be one of the cornerstones in classroom assessment. I may be wrong about that statement but I had a professor who thought that it was the bible: Angelo, T. and K. Cross (1993) Classroom Assessment Techniques. 2nd ed. Jossey-Bass Pub.

This technique requires students to submit on a piece of paper the answer to questions at the end of a lecture (or when ever you want to give it). The basic question is "What is something that you are still muddy about regarding today's lecture?" You can reword the question, etc. The students will spend a short amount of time on this and hand it in. You can then review the questions to see where the students are falling behind. You can review the content area as a followup and think about future ways to improve your instruction.

I decided to use the survey option on WebCT. The students were given 1 point for each week they submitted - 15 out of 15. This was possible because the option would tell you who participated but would not match up replies with names. The majority did participate because of the point situation but I would get the occasional "No questions at this time " response.

Another quick assessment is the "Minute paper" in which the students are given a minute to summarize the main concepts. You can review them later to see if you actually made a connection. Let me know if you have more questions.

Ken

Anonymous feedback

Hi Group,

In one of my postings, Kevin replied about a friend who uses an anonymous feedback system in his class. My school switched to ANGEL this year as it web-based platform. Prior to this we used WebCT and I used it as an online grade book.

One feature I had started to play with was the survey option. I used it to conduct weekly "muddy points", a classroom assessment technique. I thought that it was rather informative because some students would participate and ask great questions. I would review the questions with the class during their next lab period as a form of review.

So, I would suggest this method if you do have the technology - if not than good ole paper will work too.

Ken

Use of email

Hi, I wanted to continue my review on the use of email to increase interaction. I found the following article which I thought was useful: Griffith, F. and L. Anderson-Lewis. (1998) Enhancing connections between students and instructors: African-American student's use of computer mediated communication. Business Communication Quarterly. 61:9-19.

In the article, the authors stated that the use of email as a supportive role in the classroom "contributes to a social leveling that allows instructors to be seen more in the role of facilitators". They also stated that the increased interactions via email acts to "level social class (and to some extent) obscures race, gender, and age".

At the community college level, we have to deal not only with diversity of background but with age as well. A number of my students are older than I and may have problems asking for assistance from a young instructor.

Email levels the field for all students and promotes an openess that overcomes time as well.

Thanks, Ken

Improving communication

Hi Group, I was just looking at an interesting article that I can across on improving communication: Kozminsky, E. and L. Kozminsky. (2003) Improving motivation through dialogue. Educational Leadership. Sept., v.61, p 50-55.

The article is not technology-based but it does reinforce the fact that students are more willing to ask questions if they are in a positive environment. The use of email may be used to help create this learning environment because there is a sense of anonymity since they are not face-to-face with the instructor. By creating this environment, the students are able to interact with more ease and will be able to focus on improving their abilities.

Since my office hours may not meet the needs of the students, I will try to reinforce its use.

Ken

Premade PowerPoints

Hi Group,

This week we looked into the use of PowerPoints as an effective tool in the classroom. I think that there is alot of potential for its use and I look forward to learning more in the future.

This semester, I have decided to use PowerPoints in a single section of A&P 1. To "get my feet wet" and to save time (to be honest) I decided to use the premade slides that are provided by the textbook publisher. It is working but it just doesn't feel natural to me because it is not my lecture. Also, it seems a bit rigid. However, over the summer, I plan on creating my own lecture online, when I have time, and include the features we learned in Computing 1 as well as the quiz show templates we are now using.

My main goal is to improve student teacher interaction with technology and I don't want it to become me reading off of the screen and the students following along on the printed handouts.

Thanks,

Ken

My course goal

Hi,

My goal for this course is to work on increasing student-teacher interaction. It was an idea I started to work on in Educational Change EDG 6931 last Fall. At my level, I hardly interact with the students. So, I would like to look at ways I can use technology to improve this situation. By increasing interaction, I should be able to increase comprehension.

Ken

Tech Effectiveness

Hi Group,

This week, we were asked to think about the effectiveness of technology today. This is a difficult question because we all come from different areas and levels taught. The Peerless article stated that technology was effective in math but the type of software must differ with the age groups.

My use of technology is limited in the classroom because I lecture and the students use models and specimens in the lab. We are attempting to incorporate some computer based lab activities in our A&P 1 and 2. Hopefully we will continue to increase the use as funding as well as good programs become available.

I look forward to learning from all of you on how you currently include technology in your daily instruction.

Ken

My Goal

Hi everyone,

Thanks for letting me vent over the selection process. Thank goodness it is Friday :-)

In this site and over the course of the semester, I hope to find ways to use more technology in my classroom. I teach biology at a community college and most of the time I use standard lectures where I give and they receive. I hope to find something that I could use to supplement my lectures and maybe increase content comprehension at the same time.

Thanks,
Ken

My Intro

Hi Everyone,

Just getting started with our blog assignment. It has been a very busy couple of weeks. I am serving on the selection team for our new division chair. The committee is great to work with but the ones who were not selected to serve have been a pain in our sides. We have on campus interviews next week and the week after. I'll be glad when it's over because we are supposed to be professionals but I have started to wonder about some of my coworkers.

I am fairly new to blogging. I used it last Spring for EME 5207 but have not used it since. I am looking forward to this course in an attempt to bring me "into the 21st century". I am only 36 years old but I feel that I am falling behind in the technology race.

I look forward to learning with and from you over the next eight weeks. Talk to you later.

Ken