Incorporating new technologies
As an educator, how have you incorporated new technologies into the classroom?
We have made most of our lessons into Power Point presentations, some with anamation and some with videos enbedded into them. The students seem to enjoy that way of teaching better than just lecture. We are now investigating replacing the black board/white board in some of the classrooms with 80 to 100 inch LED touch screens that will allow us to add all sorts of options to our lesson plans and keep the students better engauged during the class.
Donald,
The touch screen LED displays sound like a great investment. This mirrors the latest technology used in smart phones and tablets thused by so many of our students. Do you know what applications will be available to you for your touch screen TVs?
Theresa Schmitt
The reason I am taking this development course is that in our classrooms, the ONLY new technology we've incorporated in terms of the students using the technology is what we call a "clicker," basically the same technology used on talk shows when the host wants to know the audience's reaction or what the audience would do/when they want to take a public opinion poll. There is a part of me that says "Isn't this just the same as having students raise their hands to indicate whether they agree or disagree?/Is the technology really taking us BEYOND our current capabilities, or is it just a novelty item?" And then another part of me says "Who cares if you could duplicate this in an 'old-fashioned' way - if students are having fun with it it IS successful." And I think that's something important to remember with utilizing technology. I am sure in some cases technology can take students further than traditional teaching methods allow, but even in those cases where the only purpose technology serves is to get students more interested in participating, then it's still something worth using.
This past term I created a group on Face Book specifically for my EC classes. After discussing it with my students, I felt it was the best way to encourage discussion and help answer questions that my students may have. My students agreed upon the terms for its use, only class/course materials, etc., not anything personal. For the first 9 weeks of the term it was great. Students used it to respond to assignments, ask questions about projects, or even ask me questions about the course. Because we also used the FB app on our phones, the course questions/interaction was instantaneous. The downfall, one student has to ruin the process, by acting inappropriately and posting in a threatening manner. I had to close the group. Most of my students were really disappointed.
Brooke,
I am sorry to hear the experience took a negative turn. You may want to consider blocking a disruptive student if coaching is unsuccessful and this should happen again. Below is a video link with student testimonials; it also addresses some of the privacy concerns. Setting students up as acquaintances with specific privacy parameters does help draw a line in the sand between your personal and professional life on Facebook.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MJUOa7VCkk4
Wishing you continued success in the classroom.
Theresa Schmitt
I am starting my 3rd year of teaching after 25+ years of clinical practice and I enjoy trying new ideas to not only keep my students engaged, but to stimulate me as well. I use hyperlinks on my Power Point presentations to embed videos that demonstrate the topic at hand. I like to put review questions into my slides after ~ 20 min of lecture to assess comprehension. I am really excited to try a new website (new to me) next week called Poll Everywhere. This will allow the students to respond via text messaging or Twitter and then show me the percentage of students that got each question correct and what percentage answered with the incorrect answers. We do not have clickers in the classroom here, so this is a similar concept and is free for up to 40 responders. Can't wait to try it out!
We have incorporated power point presentations as well in our lecturing as it allows for a visual representation of the material in forms of diagrams, and videos that can be implanted into the slides. We also started using and online grade book that allows the students 24 hour, 7 day a week access to their grades and the instructor via email. The students also have a forum were they can discuss things when away from the classroom environment. This is a much better forum than Facebook as we can monitor it much easier, and there isn't any outside influence as only the enrolled students have access to the material. I like the idea of 100 inch touch screen monitors for use with power point, would make lecture much more interesting and easier to navigate.
I have been able to incorporate new technology by having learners log on to the factory website and actually follow along with there own PC as I cover points and discuss items of interest. I didn't have this ability until today to do this and I think it works great!
Holly,
Thank you for sharing the ways in which you keep students engaged; you sound like a born educator! Poll Everwhere is a fantastic tool, thank you for mentioning it. For those students who just cannot seem to put their phones away, this is a great way to keep their interest and focused on the lecture.
Wishing you continued success in the classroom.
Theresa Schmitt
We love to utilize power points and video clips in our daily lectures.
As an instructor, I have taught adult medical, dental, and automotive students the importance of being opened to new technologies. I incorporate new technologies in my lessons, my presentations, and my research.
Lisa,
It sounds as if you teach a diverse group of learners. Please share what new technologies you incorporate into your lessons and how they are received by your students.
Wishing you continued success in the classroom.
Theresa Schmitt
In my classroom I have incorporated using U-Tube videos that are relevant to the subjects I am currently teaching. Just last term I showed a video dealing with the latest clinical research being done. The students found it to be very informative and very interesting because they had no idea that advancement had been made to such a degree in this topic.
Jason,
The online grade book and forum sounds like fantastic additions to the learning environment. You bring up a good point about outside influences and the ability to closely monitor usage. Do you require student participation on the forum in the form of graded participation points, or do you find students utilize this feature without prompting?
Theresa Schmitt
Elizabeth,
I also use a variety of YouTube videos in the classroom to reinforce concepts as well as introduce new ones. Do you have any tips you can share to help other weed through posted videos that may not be relevant or appropriate when searching for content on a specific topic?
Theresa Schmitt
In order to engage my students in my lectures, I have incorporated PowerPoints as well as videos. This seems to keep my students engaged especially with the videos detailing specific subjects they have trouble with. Also, using the Iclicker has kept my students aware of the information as well as intrigued. It has allowed them to keep engaged in the class due to the fact that I test them throughout my lecture on what I am teaching.
Alexandra,
It sounds like you do a fine job of integrating active learning activities into lectures by using the clicker and assessing comprehension as the students are receiving the information. Studies do show that students test better when lectures are broken up in the manner. The National Center for Biotechnology Information conducted one such study on learning, the results can be found by following his link:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2592041/
Wishing you continued success in the classroom.
Theresa Schmitt
Most of my lectures are conducted with powerpoint. I like to switch it up a bit on most days and bring in audio from music and video from either dvd's or the internet. Most days I may also ask for my student to look things up on their smartphones or tablets during our lesson. Switching gears throughout the class temds to keep them engaged musch longer than teaching form one particular thing.
Because I am a librarian I use PPTs, videos and the online databases to explain to students the importance of information literacy and their college careers. There are many online quizzes that are available that are useful for copyright information and plagiarism.
