Where do I begin??
I began my teaching career in community college as a full time faculty member in 2002 (16 years ago!!!). In technology terms that is several eons ago. Here is what was available to me in 2002 that I still have access to today:
- Podcasts. I was able to create and share my own podcasts using a digital voice recorder.
- Internet and a Course Management System (CMS). I began saving student grades and handouts to our CMS, Blackboard.
That was really about all I used. Social Media was not a "thing" yet. No such thing as iphones either! I did have a cell phone, but most people still called me on my landline. I had internet access at home and used it for online classes that I had taken in graduate school. I remember having to record a cassette tape of an interview for that class and mail it to the professor. So old school, right?
I did not teach online myself, but wanted to explore it. I wasn't sure if the child development courses I taught would translate well in the online environment and back then, they probably would not have. Digital technologies in 2002 were still in the infancy of what they would become.
Today I teach online and use Canvas CMS. I use my computer webcam and mic to record announcements and have students record themselves with children and upload the recordings to share with fellow students. I use "Zoom" meetings for virtual office hours and can have my students share their screens if they are having a problem. I am able to reach students from anywhere. In the past, if a student had a mid-semester crisis that would take them away from campus, they had to drop the class or plan on serious make up time. Now, they can bring a laptop with them and log in remotely and keep up with class. Collaborative efforts among students in an online environment has been facilitated by programs such as Google Docs.I have a twitter account and students can follow me on there and on Facebook@ProfessorGreenesEceStudentPage. I rarely use paper in my face to face classrooms, preferring to have all assignments turned in via Canvas.
My students all have smart phones and I no longer use "clickers" in my face to face classes but use apps like Poll Everywhere, Kahoot and Quizzez for student engagement in the classroom. These apps are free to me as an instructor and free for my students to use. I also use Survey Monkey to get anonymous feedback from students. I am honestly hard pressed to think of an area where I don't use digital technologies to enhance my classes and my teaching.
In a discussion with a colleague the other day, I mentioned that adding whiteboards to new classrooms was a waste of space and that they might as well add chalkboards. I have moved fully into the 21st century and am able to envision a classroom where everyone has a device and is able to project what they are working on for everyone to see.
My only worry is that I ensure that I am not using technology just for fun. Whenever I try something new I always elicit feedback from the students and usually will follow up with a quick quiz to see if it has really improved the student outcomes and learning or if it was not worth the extra time. I encourage all my fellow faculty to play with new technology. In order to be effective teachers, we must also be effective learners! Keep learning and trying new things!
As Logan said to Rory:
(#gilmoregirls)
(#gilmoregirls)
Donna, what a great list of resources! Thank you for sharing these!
ReplyDeleteAlthough I am aware of many of these, I have been reluctant to more fully adopt such smart-phone technologies in my classes, mainly because I know not everyone has a smart phone - though the majority of them do. I'm curious has this issue come up for you and how have you handled it?
Also, wipe boards (or chalkboards) may seem old fashioned, but in my discipline it is essential to be able to draw figures/diagrams to illustrate a concept. It's also a great way to model note-taking. And there is a growing body of evidence that taking notes by hand is a better learning strategy than typing.
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/a-learning-secret-don-t-take-notes-with-a-laptop/
Hi Rachel,
DeleteI have only once had a student who did not have a smart phone laptop to participate in the online quizzes and responses. I was able to lend my laptop to that student so that she could log in via my browser. We now have a class set of Chromebooks and students are allowed to use those if they would prefer.
About the note taking. I had to think deeply about why students had to take notes in my class. They took notes when I lectured. So, why did I lecture? This really got deep quickly for me. Lecture is a "remainder" from when books were scarce and students had to "download" information that the professor shared in class. When I moved to a flipped classroom, the need for note taking was gone. I no longer lecture, so no need to take notes. Recording and uploading mini-lectures to Canvas allows my students to go back and listen over and over again. Students who are learning English are able to pause the lecture and look up words that are unfamiliar. Rather than taking notes, students are able to compose questions for further discussion and dig deeper than if they listened to me in class.
Writing on white boards is fine, but I can accomplish the same thing on a tablet with a stylus and save the image and upload it to Canvas as well.
Remember, chalk boards and paper and pens are technology tools as well. Don't we want to use the best technology for the project we are working on?
Thanks for your comments!!
Donna, I enjoyed your excitement at learning tools that enhance your classroom and your students' learning, including that you check to be sure the students did learn. And I love this: "I encourage all my fellow faculty to play with new technology. In order to be effective teachers, we must also be effective learners!" That is so true. Many teachers have forgotten what it feels like to learn anew. I look forward to learning more from you. ~ Sheri
ReplyDeleteHi Sheri,
DeleteWe really are kindred spirits, as Anne of Green Gables would say. Thanks for reading.
Donna, the point you made at the end about making student feedback part of the iterative process of experimental teaching is so, so, so important. When faculty decide, "Well that was a failure" or "That went great!" without asking for student input, we using our own impressions of a situations to make important decisions. Every twist and turn must always be guided by our students's learning. Thank you for this important share!
ReplyDeleteHi Michelle,
DeleteThank you! Yes, I remember the first time I used Kahoot! I really felt like it was just a time killer, but my students loved it!!! So, I had them create the questions for our next Kahoot! game with a prize to the team who was able to stump the class. They worked so hard and came up with great stuff. Just goes to remind me that students' perspectives are always different than ours. I am reminded of a professor who said " just because you have been a student does not mean you can be a good teacher, the experience is very different. If you have been to the emergency room, do you think that makes you qualified to be a doctor?" Loved that analogy.
I love your point about how when students have a mid-semester issue, they can still finish the course. Just last semester, I had a student who would have had to take an incomplete in my face-to-face lab course, but she was able to complete the course on time because I could put the lab exam and final on Canvas for her to take remotely.
ReplyDeleteHi Nancy,
DeleteThanks! I had a student who was pregnant and put on bed rest for 1/2 of a semester. We were able to use her IPhone and my IPad for facetime during the class session and then she completed her work in Canvas. She was able to finish the class and have a healthy baby.