Reflections on VoiceThread

VoiceThread is an online service that allows one to create an instructional video that people can view.  However, VoiceThread allows one to not only incorporate video, but also text based files, narration, and other forms of media.  This seems to be a very powerful tool, because a teacher can essentially create an entire lesson that includes video, text-based files, and audio narration.  Students could then go to VoiceThread and view a particular lesson.  

Even more exciting, is that VoiceThread would allow students to comment and interact with that lesson. As long as students register with Voice Thread, they could provide a written, auditory, or video response using a webcam.  My impression is that VoiceThread essentially allows you to move the classroom to the web.  Of course, VoiceThread is probably best used in conjunction with a traditional classroom environment.  VoiceThread is also free as long as your video postings remain below seventy-five megabytes.   

I could imagine using VoiceThread in my own classroom.  I always provide students with a class syllabus at the beginning of the school year.  Instead of printing copies, I could create a VoiceThread that all students need to view and comment on.  I could provide both video/auditory commentary and incorporate my usual handout as pdf within the VoiceThread.  The possibilites are exciting, and I look forward to finding ways to use VoiceThread to enhance my classes and student learning.

Preparing for Podcasting

In preparation for my own podcasting, I've been listening to a couple podcasts that deal with education and technology.  I subscribed to the NPR education podcast (usually between fifteen and thirty minutes), because it provides a general overview of major issues dealing with education around the country.  Plus, I trust NPR's journalistic integrity, and feel comfortable with the information that is being made available.  One of the episodes dealt with budget shortfalls around the country and how it's affecting districts.  For example, the city of Philadelphia has to cut millions of dollars from its budget.  One has to wonder how technology is supposed to be incorporated into schools when districts have difficulty obtaining funding to maintain their schools

The second podcast I subscribed to is called Teach with Tech (usually a little over thirty minutes).  This podcast deals specifically with using technology in the classroom.  The most interesting part of one of the episodes I listened to was how teachers are incorporating video games into the classroom.  They had a guest who had used Second Life, a web-based virtual world, within the classroom.  I teach civics, geography, and world history so I immediately began to think about how one could use this in the classroom.  I think that there is potential using Second Life, but one also needs to think about the risks of allowing students to explore an online environment that may expose them to content that would be inappropriate.  I teach middle school, so this is something that would have to be very controlled and monitored if it was ever used in the classroom.

I found both podcasts to be interesting.  One was more a general education podcast, and the other was focused on instructional technology.  Both provided insights into educational issues that were relevant to teachers.  The NPR podcast provided information about how politics and economics are affecting education in society.  Teach with Tech provided some interesting ways to incorporate technology and definitely focused on some interesting issues like using web-based virtual worlds to facilitate learning.  This would be particularly useful for distributed learning communities since people are often separated by distance.  Second Life could provide an environment to meet and interact in a virtual world.  I really didn't find any substantial drawbacks to either of these podcasts.  I would suggest both podcasts to anyone who is interested in learning more about education and technology in society.

Five Ways to Use Google Forms in the Classroom

How does one easily and effectively gather data?  This is sometimes a difficult question to find the answer to as teachers.  Luckily, Google Docs, provides the ability to easily and effectively gather data using Google Forms.  Below are a number of ways to use Google Forms to gather data about student learning and create projects.

1.  Use Google Forms as a formative assessment.  Create a survey before a major unit to determine how much students know or don't know.  This could help introduce the unit of study and help guide instruction.

2.  Use Google Forms for quizzes.  This would work best if each student has a Google account through the school, which would require them to sign in as a way to keep track of who is actually completing the form.  The spreadsheet that the form creates nicely displays the responses to the questions for each respondent.

3.  Use Google Forms for student feedback.  After finishing a unit of study, conduct a form that surveys the opinions of the students and what they found helpful or difficult.  This would be an effective way to get students to reflect on their own learning.

4.  Use Google Forms to conduct school surveys on important issues.  Create a form to survey what type of technology students have access to at home.  Use a form to poll the viewpoints of students during a presidential election.  Make a survey that gathers data about bullying within a school.

5.  Use Google Forms for student projects.  Have students make their own form that their classmates must complete.  The students then analyze the data and create a Google Presentation using the results of their survey.  This type of a project could apply to many different content areas.

These are only a few ways to incorporate Google Forms into the classroom.  Google Docs is constantly evolving, which provides new and exciting tools to use in education.  Create a Google Form to better harness data about student learning in the classroom.

Obstacles To Distributed Learning Communities Through Technology

Technology and education have forever been linked.  From the chalkboard to the interactive whiteboard, changing technology equally changes our viewpoint on how we use it to hopefully enhance education.  Emerging web-based technologies (i.e. Google Docs) provide opportunities to maximize the educational possibilities by weaving them into distributed learning communities.  The very act of sharing a file within Google Docs represents the core of distributed learning communities, which is the emphasis on improving learning by involving others.  Unfortunately, obstacles to this enhanced learning from fusing collaborative technology with distributed learning communities exists in part through the current academic culture of school and the lack of commitment to providing students with the necessary hardware to facilitate change.

The distributed learning community depends on sharing knowledge to benefit the group.  Dr. Chris Dede of Harvard University wrote how important sharing ideas is to moving forward the knowledge of a distributed learning community.  However, students are often told that the purpose of your education is to advance yourself through only your work.  This creates a culture of competition that can motivate an individual to focus solely on scoring higher grades.  The problem is when the competition of higher grades consumes the educational experience of a student instead of maximizing knowledge.  Surely a student that gets excellent grades is gaining knowledge, but imagine how much more learning would be taking place if it was in a learning community that revolved around the constant exchange of ideas instead of a vacuum of academic competition.  Distributed learning communities can breakdown that vacuum to maximize the educational experience.

Technology certainly could play a role in breaking down that vacuum of academic competition.  The problem is that too many students and teachers view technology as something that exists in a separate sphere from teaching.  Technology should be an inseparable part of education to take advantage of collaboration for effective distributed learning communities.  The best way to make technology inseparable from teaching is to have each student with a learning device (i.e. laptops, iPads, or iPods).

The major problem with providing students with technological devices is that there often isn't a commitment to provide the adequate funding to make this a reality.  Funding exists, but it's all a matter of how that money is distributed, especially on a national level.  For example, the proposed 2013 U.S. federal budget by the White House is 525.4 billion for defense spending and 69.8 billion for education.  Technically, these amounts represent a decrease in defense spending and an increase in education compared to past years.  How government decides to use tax dollars just shows that there isn't a commitment to providing students with the necessary technological devices to effectively implement distributed learning communities.  Until such a funding commitment can be made to public education, too many obstacles prevent fully merging technology and distributed learning communities into an effective marriage.

Poll Everywhere

Technology as tool.  Often the simplest and everyday technologies get overlooked.  We take for granted what each technology does and don't think about what it could do.  Much has been written on how to incorporate student cell phones into the classroom.  This must be done in a way that uses technology as a tool instead of merely entertainment.

I teach social studies and our district constantly fights against cell phone use in school.  We must realize that these devices are part of the lives of our students.  This year I began to stop looking at cell phones as a device that interrupts my class and instead as a tool to enhance my instruction.  Once I was able to take that step, I was able to explore potential uses of the cell phone.

One such use is for students to participate in polls using their cell phones.  Poll Everywhere provides a free service to teachers for creating these polls.  I have used open-ended and multiple choice polls to deepen student understanding of topics.  Usually, I have the students use their cell phones to text in responses to essential questions as we learn new material.  For example, the students text in a summarized response about how the causes of the American War of Independence helps describe the role of government in society.  This works as a formative assessment as well, because you can gauge the responses to see if the students are grasping the material or if you need to reteach.

The best way to take advantage of this resource is to try it yourself.  It's a free service, but there are options to upgrade for some cost.  Additionally, the students can respond to the polls using a variety of devices (iPod Touch, iPads, cell phones, computers, etc.).