Sitting at home and not traveling around during the long vacation this year I've had some time to unwind, learn and reflect. I am about to commence my 4th year teaching in a 1 to 1 Macbook programme and have been doing some research into the use of technology in the classroom and how it can enhance the learning experience for students.
Any teachers reading I am sure have experienced walking around the room where students have an electronic device and at some point have seen an app or website open that shouldn't be used at that point in the lesson. I'm also fairly certain that most teachers reading this have had to deal with, or at least heard about, inappropriate or mean things being said and shared online between students. So, is a device actually enhancing or the learning experience or is it a distraction.
A few months ago a poll appeared in my Twitter feed asking for an opinion on mobile phones in the classroom. Are they a distraction or an opportunity? The results of the poll had most people selecting opportunity and yes they can be, but this requires the student to be completely engaged and the teacher to have perhaps planned how they are used. There are numerous arguments that can be made and strategies that can be implemented. It isn't black and white.
One of my greatest concerns with technology has been that many seem to have used it as a band aid. Children like technology, so if we use it they are automatically more engaged in the lesson. Really? There is also a belief in some schools that if they have a 1 to 1 device programme they need to make sure that they are using the devices every lesson. I experienced this in my first 1 to 1 Macbook environment. A large portion of orientation was spent on technology and the moodle based platform that the school used to deliver content to students. For my first year everything was electronic and it was a nightmare. Students sat quietly, for the most part, behind the laptops when a task was set and when you asked for submissions the headaches really began. You could collect them via the moodle based platform, but as many of the files I needed were media heavy the system couldn't handle it and they had to publish their video on an internal media site and send me the link or wait patiently for my hard drive. Of course then when I went to mark I'd find files missing, corrupted files and on the odd occasion a password protected file that I couldn't open. There would also be the cases where despite numerous checks a student would submit an almost blank file or their hard drive had crashed and they hadn't backed up. This experience was an enormous learning curve for me and I made a lot of changes.
Using a flipped classroom model from time to time has been a really positive use of technology for me. During the last academic year I had a class use some music notation software for the first time. I turned the projector on and hooked my laptop up to guide the students through the initial setup of their own scores and how to use it. I had to keep waiting for students that couldn't keep up and this also meant other students were sat waiting too. I then spent the rest of the lesson running from student to student because they just didn't get it. The following week I'd made a screencast of me doing the exact same thing I had done the previous week. I didn't talk. I didn't do any fancy editing. I just went through the steps and then shared the video with my students. The success rate was vastly improved and I only had to assist a couple of students. It was all much quicker, no one was held back and students were in able to go at their own pace. Thank you technology and thank you brain for remembering that you have used flipped classroom methods and how great they can be.
Technology has also given students some great options for how they complete their work, if allowed. I have seen this work incredibly well, but I've also seen it fall rather flat. When it works I've received a mixture of essays, power points, videos, podcasts, fancy mindmaps, blogs and paper based assignments. When it hasn't worked is when students haven't picked the easiest option, not followed the assessment criteria and submitted regardless. The other time it didn't work was when I set an assignment and offered students to submit in anyway they liked as long as they met my criteria. I was really excited as I didn't know the class well and thought this would give me a chance to see different learning styles. Instead I received an overwhelming number of essay like pieces of work. When I surveyed the students anonymously and asked why they chose to complete the work as they had the majority responded that they chose to write because it was what they were used to and or it seemed like the easiest option, which would suggest a lack of experience with other formats and or apps.
On my journey looking at technology in the classroom I found a fantastic book in the staff section of the school library packed with articles about technology in education. I immediately began to delve into it and read all of the case studies with interest. A couple of articles highlighted that technology in many cases was just implemented into classrooms without any thought or research and that now it is being addressed. A plethora of investigations into ipadology are occurring, articles are being written and published and teachers are being brave enough to try new things as well as controversially using paper (sorry trees) despite the laptops in students backpacks.
Putting yourself in the shoes of the students is important. Quite honestly with all of the new apps, teaching methods and ideas out there I constantly feel like a student. I love learning new things, so I decided to try an online course to experience the pros and cons of a virtual classroom. The course was provided by Future Learn and it was free. I liked moving at my own speed. I liked being able to study in the garden. I liked that I could read the transcript rather than watching the video. What I didn't like was the number of people in the class discussion. Sometimes there were in excess of 1000, which meant I did not read most people's comments, thoughts and questions. It often meant I didn't read any because I found the number so overwhelming that I avoided the discussion boards. Even though some tutors interacted with the students this seemed to be rare, probably because the course was free and runs almost non-stop. Did technology enhance my learning experience? Yes and no. I wouldn't have had the learning experience if it wasn't online, but it allowed me to work when and where I wanted and it gave me choice as to how I viewed and completed content. However, I missed discussing the content with others.
For me there is no simple route forward for technology integration in the classroom. There are so many variables at play. I am grateful for the research and articles that are beginning to be published and will forever be reflecting on my own experiences and considering whether what I am doing is the 'right' thing for the students in front of me.
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