Using Tablet PCs to keep students engaged

Hi all,

Colleges and schools are working hard to find ways to keep students engaged in classroom activities. Traditional teaching activities are not being very effective in seizing students’ attentions and engagement anymore.

As numerous studies found that the learners of the 21th century are highly motivated to learn; they are self directed and independent; they want to participate in decision making whenever they can; they need to be convinced on what is being taught to them will benefit them; and time is extremely important to them.

The task of the trainer/teacher/coach, whatever name you use, to keep the learners engaged and motivated in class room is not easy. Using technology effectively in classroom is one way of making the teachers' job little bit easier sometime and difficult at other times.

At my current job, all students have laptops (tablet-pc). Full time access to wireless network and internet connection. I have used many different methods to keep my students engaged. I give them access to my online course. All assignments and projects have restricted submission dates. All mini and major projects are done in groups and requires the use of internet for researching info; and plenty of feedback on their progress. With all these methods of keeping students engaged, I am still searching for ways to get the full benefits and make most of their laptops and internet availability to meet the course objective.

I would love to hear from people with similar settings

Students with laptops and full internet access.. How can we keep them engaged and concentrating on task at hand?

Thanks

WEB 2.0: PEOPLE NOT PRODUCTS

An interesting article is published by the British Computer Society on how the current web 2.0 tools are affecting the way companies do business online. The article highlights the way businesses have been transformed from the sole owners of the contents to contributors to contents creations and to designers of social-based websites with collaborative interface.

Complete article can be read on

http://www.bcs.org/server.php?show=ConWebDoc.17057

Hope you have a good read.

Top Tech Tools for the Classroom

Share with us what you use in your classroom..

We are currently using uboost. Uboost.com..
“It's affiliated with weekly reader and allows your students to read the online weekly reader magazine (current events, news, current science, and much more), take quizzes, earn points, and get cool prizes. Take advantage of it because it's free till december. I just got my students on it and they love it!
go to uboost.com and check it out! “

We are using Think.com
“This year in my Language Arts classroom (seventh grade). See my discussion thread for more info. “


How to use GCP in Classroom
How do you use the GCP in the classroom. I like this site and I think they do a nice job explaning the "HOW TO".

I use the followings
“Google Documents for education. www,google.com/educators/ (Collobrative word processor and spreadsheet and web site bulider)
Filimentality ( lesson plans).
Rubistar fpr teachers. rubistar.4teachers.org (rubrics)
Thinkfinity www.Thinkfinity.org Resources and lesson plans
screencast-o-matic.com ( create tutorials usig screen shots)
GCF learnfree.org (online computer training”.

I use a smart Quiz tool
“I use a smart Quiz tool to create online tests and assessments. The good thing is that I can use images, Flash, music and record narration for my testing content.
You can see a sample at “
http://www.sameshow.com/quiz-creator/sample.html

Personal Social Networking

Very important thoughts on Social Networking and Education by
Will Richardson

Web 2.0 tools

An interesting discussion I had the other day with a very traditional English language teacher who is not ready to introduce any technology tools to embrace his teaching and learning in the classroom. After one hour of heated discussion I could not get him to accept nor see the benefits of the web 2.0 technology of today. Maybe he did not want to understand nor see the benefits of such tools. Maybe, I was not convincing enough. Anyway, below is a summary of my argument with him.
The web 2.0 tools like Twitter, Podcasts, Wikis, Skype, Voice Thread, Sketch Cast, etc. are tools that are bringing fresh approaches to learning and we should not underestimate the impact of those tools on our students to keep them engaged in classroom discussions.
I believe that many of the traditional teachers and public schools are afraid of letting our students learn "skills" that actually do provide the means to learn on their own.
“Schools are scared because the means to truly become a life long learner often include methods where the teacher and a school lose control over the students learning”. Instead of allowing the community and world to become additional teachers for our students, we are too scared that it will reflect poorly on us if we make mistakes on public forums.

Many of the web 2.0 tools I mentioned at the beginning facilitate the following standards better than traditional methodology:

1. Innovation, Creativity, Communication and Collaboration
2. Critical Thinking, Problem Solving, Decision Making, Research and Information
Fluency.

3. Digital Citizenship
4. Technology Operations and Concepts

As I continue my journey of recording my reflection for the FET8611 course, I would appreciate hearing from people with specific examples from life experience on the effectiveness of web 2.0 tools in English Language classes.

Technology Integration: Teachers Beliefs and practices

Integrating technology in classrooms across universities, colleges and school is moving at a steady and fast pace. Big chunk of our college budget is allocated to IT infrastructure upgrade and to acquire technology tools to support learning across the curriculum.
The article I just read talks about the transitions that happen as result of introducing technology in classrooms. I will briefly discuss the five phases that schools go through as a result of technology introduction and then I will outline at what phase our college is at.
Entry Level Phase
At this phase, the technology gets unpacked, computers, projectors, Smart Boards, scanners, video cameras get installed. Reorganizations of the classroom physical settings also happen at this phase. Once instructions begin, the teachers find themselves facing problems like class management, resource management and personal frustration with the use of the new technology. At this stage, teachers feel very frustrated with the new environment.
Adoption Phase
Teachers at this stage get busy in creating or modifying their instructional materials to suit the newly created environment. As a result, disruption takes place at every level in the student learning process. Students and teachers struggle to learn and function with class environment and the new tools. No significant improvement shows at this stage (Baker, Herman, & Gearheart, 1998). But motivation, self teem, Students attendance are reported to be high among students as research shows (Baker, el at.)
Adaptation Phase
Those individual teachers who feel comfortable with the new tools start to use them in an appropriate way to accomplish real work. As teachers reach this stage, their roles begin to come up with new instructional patterns in their classes. Team teaching, Project based, Peer interactions, Collaborative learning, students ability to learn on their own; and the changing role of a teacher to become facilitator rather than distributor of knowledge are all emerged at this stage.
Invention Stage
All previous phases are viewed to be leading to the stage of invention phase. Teachers who reach this stage start to view learning as active, creative and socially interactive process. Knowledge start to be viewed as something students must construct rather then transferred to them by the teacher.

Where do we stand?
In our college, we are still at the adaptation stage, I believe. Staff is learning how to use the new tools in their classroom environment. Their instructional materials are being updated and rewritten to take into considerations the new technology. Staff development, management support and funding are the key to successful integration at this stage.

References:
Baker, Eva L.; Herman, Joan L.; & Gearhart, Maryl (1989). The ACOT report card:Effect on complex performance and attitude. Paper presented at the meeting of the American Educational Research Association, San Francisco.

Becker, H. J. (1987, July). The impact of computer use on children’s learning: What
research has shown and what it has not. Baltimore, MD: Center for Research on
Elementary and Middle Schools.

please feel free to send me your feedback..

till my next reading...

Key Elements in Setting up Successful Online Course

Currently, I am involved in setting up an online course for comp 0155 for the foundation class at my college. I am, like many other instructors around the world, discovering the potential of the online environment to deliver the highest quality courses to people who would otherwise have limited access to education. To have a successful online course, four key elements are identified:
- The Facilitator
- The Student
- The Curriculum
- The Technology
Let me briefly take a closer look at each element.

The Facilitator
A trained well qualified facilitator is an important part of a successful online course. Normally, at our college, the facilitator is also the designer of the course. Therefore, his attitude, skills, personality, positive attitude, and encouragement to the students have powerful influence on the success or failure of the courses we offer online.

The Student
A student participating in an online environment must assume an active role at all times. Attitude, skills, and commitment will determine whether the student will be a good candidate for the online experience. The student must be mature, open-minded, self-motivated, accepting of critical thinking, willing to work collaboratively, and trusting medium. Good written communication and a minimum level of technological experience are necessary as well.

The Curriculum
The online curriculum should have clear achievable objective. The choice of technologies should be driven by the curriculum not the other way around. The learning objective must be of relevant to the learners so we can have maximum dialog between participants in the online course. From my own experience, the synergy generated through the dialogue is the most important learning tool in the online environment and has impact on defining the learning outcomes. The climate of the course must be open, honest, sincere, and conductive to the learning.

The Technology
Technology is the final component of a successful online course. Selection of technologies to use in the online course is becoming a challenging task due to the continuous changes and growth in internet based tools. But successful use of technology in an online environment is determined by its ease of use and the degree to which it remains a tool that is seamlessly integrated in curriculum. Technical support is also vital to the success of an online course. We all should know that technical issues should not interfere with the learning process.

Please feel free to comment on any of my blogs