Student Prezi's

Greetings everyone!

As some of you have seen, Prezi is a web-based presentation tool, which allows its users to create and use presentations fully online. Additionally, Prezi has the capability for its users to collaborate fully online without the need to be in the same location. A HUGE benefit especially when group members are absent, not in the same city, or even in the same country.

In an effort to share "Best Practices" and highlight student successes (2 for 1), I've included the links to the highest scoring Prezi's for each of my Geometry Honor's classes. They were to create original math problems (aligned with the section they chose) both varying in difficulty and including a real-world application. Click on the links below; you will be able to access/view/navigate the various presentations from these students.

Period 1 -

http://prezi.com/igc7sfznxdaj/?utm_campaign=share&utm_medium=copy&rc=ex0share

Period 2 -

http://prezi.com/5culgdymctit/?utm_campaign=share&utm_medium=copy&rc=ex0share

Period 5 -

http://prezi.com/zslji1ebvpcw/?utm_campaign=share&utm_medium=copy&rc=ex0share

Period 6 -

http://prezi.com/zibzqhfe3nay/?utm_campaign=share&utm_medium=copy&rc=ex0share

As always, if you'd like any support in incorporating this into your curriculum, I'd be happy to brainstorm some ideas and share more instructional content with you.

Cheers!

-Mark

Professional Development…again? -_-

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Those are usually the words and faces we make when we hear about another teacher training, or what we call in Broward; Professional Development. Interestingly enough, through all my years of teaching, I have always questioned the effectiveness of our professional development teams, especially with Instructional Technology. All too often our trainings on “innovative technology” (yes…I intentionally used quotations) are mostly lectures and demonstrations of dated software and web-apps, which, at some point in time were cutting-edge or innovative, but those days have long since passed. These trainings are usually staffed by one person to a room of 40-50 teachers, with varying computer skills, instructional preferences, and content areas, forced to sit in the training, when REALLY, they’d rather be in their rooms getting caught up on grades for their. This may or may not pertain to me J But really…how effective can these trainings be? We get credit when we sign in, sit through it, and complete the evaluation online at the end that does not ask relevant questions to provide meaningful feedback to the trainer.

There are a number of elements missing from these trainings inhibiting maximum effectiveness. The major piece missing: successful use of an Instructional Design Model. In fact, I doubt one is used to begin with. By how to use the ASSURE Model (http://www.instructionaldesign.org/models/index.html) and comparing that with the trainer’s delivery instruction, much is missing as summarized below:

Analysis of Learner: An analysis of the learner usually consists of nothing more than a “Raise you hand if you’ve used…” of “How many of you have experience with…” What? How is that going to give anyone really data on their audience?

State Objectives: IF the trainer mentions any learning objectives at all, they often are very broad and vague versus directly explaining what the learner should expect to be able to do at the completion of the training. 

Select Methods, Media and Materials: The “go-to” materials, media and methods are usually a projector and computer with a PowerPoint.

Utilize Methods, Media, and Materials: Often the trainers opt for direct lecture/ “instruction” for the majority of the instructional time. Interesting how we must teach in “student-centered” environments, but that expectation does not hold true when the teacher becomes the student.

Require Learner Participation: Learner participation is often not required, as again, the audience’s focus is on watching and listening rather than any type of hands on activity. Furthermore, there is nothing ever to submit or turn in as evidence of participation or completion. Often, I’ve observed colleagues “checking out” of the trainings, mostly because they feel the training has little value to them and their instructional practice.

Evaluate and Revise: The only element used 100% of the time is the evaluation at the end. Participants are required to complete the evaluation to receive In-service points, so I might question the accuracy of the evaluation results as well as how it might be used for revision. I have not seen much changed, which leads me to believe little to no revisions have been made based on these evaluation results.

So how do we change this? I suggest teaching more relevant topics with regard to technology. Ipad/Tablet computing, Web 2.0 tools, Interactive White Boards, and maybe even Digital Storytelling are topics more current and relevant to today’s teaching. I also suggest doing away with the “Mandatory” nature of these technology-based staff developments. That method of teaching does not generate results; neither does having a disinterested/unmotivated learner endure such training. Why not create different learning modules and lessons for teachers to complete (similar to an online course) where they proceed through the modules at their own pace, completing various activities (relevant to the task), to conclude with some form of deliverable that must be submitted as demonstration that the learner did in fact participate and learn something. Additionally, I propose having a variety of these courses from which teacher can choose from based on their own skill levels and professional interests. Why make a teacher sit through an entire presentation on creating a Podcast in Garageband if they can barely even upload photos to their Dell desktop?

Interesting thoughts…right? What are yours?

-Mark O

Highs and Lows of Learner Response Systems

As with everything ed tech related, using learner response systems (LRSs) for instruction can be viewed as a double-edged sword. A learner response system uses wireless technology to connect hand-held devices (used by the student) to the teacher's computer. These devices predominantly are used to facilitate student interaction and engagement with a lesson. (Click here for an example) In my classes, we use these devices mostly for formative assessment during a lesson and occasionally for quizzes (self-paced) if I've properly planned and prepared.

So why the double-edged sword comment? I'll begin with the negatives and end on a high-note. The only issue I've had with using LRSs during lessons deals with student immaturity. CLASSROOM MANAGEMENT IS A MUST! As with most technology in the classroom, when classroom management slips, as does the quality and effectiveness of the lesson and subsequently student learning. I first used LRSs during my second year teaching. While eager to try new things, I had not properly "planned for the worst" and arranged the devices to be used in the most effective way. I had the students choose whichever device they wanted and respond (via text) some of the responses. As you could imagine, with lower level freshmen and sophomores mixed with high levels of anonymity, the words that popped up as responses were...lets just say...less than desirable and pretty offensive.

So how does one best use these devices? First (now I know) assign a student to each device. The truth is, they REALLY like to use these devices. It becomes a game and often a race to see who can get the answer in the fastest and of course, most accurate. Assigning each device increases the accountability factor, which does minimize the immature choices from the students. My next suggestion is to cater your questions to the level of the audience. KNOW YOU STUDENTS! Can they handle texting in an answer or would it be best for them to respond numerically, T/F, or Multiple Choice? Lastly, be sure to assign some sort of value to their responses. Inevitably, the novelty will wear off, and students will want to know how you will use their responses. Points for participation, quizzes, or maybe even have it be some form of game where the highest scoring (team) wins something? Again, I feel your audience must dictate how you use these devices. Push them and hold them to a higher level yes, but keep the goals attainable.

Once YOU are set and ready, using LRSs is SO much fun! When used properly, they do encourage engagement in all students; even the most shy and timid learners. In my experience, they provide another means of taking the focus off you as the instructor and back on content and material where it belongs. Once you have properly designed and implemented LRSs into your lesson, most will be impressed by the increased level of student engagement in the lesson and class. No doubt!

Good luck and have fun with them!

-Mark O

Storyboard for a math related digital story.

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Greetings!

As mentioned in past posts, I am working on creating a lesson that uses digital storytelling in a mathematics context. The example I created is for my 9^th/10^th grade Geometry Honors students. While this example focuses on calculating the area of polygons the lesson could theoretically be applied to other mathematical topics, not just those in geometry. My ask is that you look through the storyboard below and provide me with feedback on what you see. This includes: likes, dislikes, strengths, weaknesses, critiques, errors, etc. Any thoughts and comments you feel would improve the example I will produce would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you for your support!

-Mark O

Digital Stories in Math?

As I have worked my way through the Educational Technology program at UCF, several of our courses have focused on various type of Digital Storytelling. We have covered Me Story, Digital Booktalk, and Change Story while exploring effective technological techniques and processes to create quality products. While developing our products, we learned the valuable learning experiences and achievement benefits students gain by researching, creating, and presenting their digital stories and evaluating the stories created by their peers. For me, however, as a math teacher, I understood the value of Digital Storytelling in terms of improving literacy, but had been (until recently) skeptical about seeing such results with mathematical content. However, after extensively researching the topic, I found evidence that story could possible prove equally effective in a mathematics class; not just the language arts.

The beauty of storytelling is the fact that most find high levels of familiarity in telling a story; it is the way we talk, interact, and often relay information. How this can be applied a mathematical sense is integrating a story (maybe a personal experience) with a real-world high school mathematical problem or concept. In my classes, I envision my students correlating elements of story with a real-world mathematical concept to create a Digital Story. Their end product should tell a story while applying mathematics to a real-world problem while containing instructional value by providing a solution to the problem. Difficult? Maybe, but not impossible. 

The biggest obstacle to overcome will not likely be the math concepts, but the creation of the digital story. My students, while in the process of learning, are not as proficient in the media creating area, as we will need. With that being said, I would incorporate progress checkpoints for key pieces of the final project. These checkpoints would include a developed story (with correlated real-world mathematics connection), a storyboard, the associated audio piece, and a complete rough draft before the final submission. Of course, each element would be evaluated for accuracy and content using a predetermined rubric.

Keeping in mind the technology levels of my students, I would plan to have a sub-lesson for each section of the project prior to the checkpoint. The lesson must begin with some sort of explanation as to why we’re doing this. (Not my favorite question to be asked, but important to answer nonetheless.) This article gives a quick and easy explanation as to the value of using Digital Storytelling in the classroom to reach students in the YouTube Generation. To ensure a high quality product, in addition to teaching content, each piece of the Digital Story would have a lesson involved to thoroughly explain its importance in the overall process. I would include suggestions on appropriate tools to use for each portion, examples of high-quality products in addition to self-generated “How-to” tutorials of me using my preferred creation tools. While I would encourage my students to use the tools I suggested, there is value in having them search for their own tools, applications, and sites to support them in their process. Websites like Go2web20, Discover Education, and Cool Tools for Schools offer NUMEROUS links to Web 2.0 tools that will support them in each step of the creation process, and often have instructions or tutorial on how to easily and effectively use their site.

Digital Storytelling

For this post, I've embedded Prezi that I created with some thoughts on Digital Storytelling. While a lesson including Digital Storytelling may seem intimidating, it can be a tremendous learning experience for all involved (teacher included!)

-Mark O.

Got Space?

As our classrooms have quickly evolved into being more digital, projects and assignments have also shifted from being traditional to a more online or digital platform. While Web Apps and Web 2.0 tools have supported this transition, several projects and assignments still require computer based applications and…storage. Ahhh storage. When working on projects and assignments, it is a necessity. We teachers use storage for everything from media masterpieces to lesson plans. Students use storage for projects, essays, and other files required for their courses. While my district allots storage space on a server for teachers and students (I believe), one can only access those files while on campus. And, let’s face it, while that’s all nice and great, the majority of the creating and assembling happens off campus. With increases in technology and storage capabilities, the issue has moved from the amount of storage, to having the ability to access our files whenever and wherever we need them.

Fortunately for us, we have a great deal of options to choose from aside from lugging around a notebook, netbook, or tablet computer everywhere we go.  Flash-drives, external hard drives, and cloud computing have become increasingly convenient with a variety of price-points and storage capacities. Which is the best? That question does not have an easy answer as everyone has different needs and requirements. For me though, there’s a definite winner, but it would not be sufficient to simply leave it there. That being said, I’ll share my experiences with each so you, the reader, might be able to generate a more informed opinion.

Flash drives have become quite the common storage device. They’re small, portable, usually inexpensive, and can have a functional amount of space for the price. I did a quick perusal of Bestbuy.com and found they have a huge number of options to choose from. Prices ranged from $3.99-$200+ with capacities between 2.0GB-128GB. More space usually correlated with a greater cost, but I did learn that some of the more expensive devices with less space included more advanced security features, which I imagine, are used for more personal or classified documents. Below are examples of some frequently used flash drives from my 5^th period students. Most of my students carry these for class because, like I mentioned, they do not cost a lot of money and can hold a good deal of information.  

 

For me, one of the main reasons I prefer not to use flash drives is that 1) I fill them up too quickly, thus requiring me to have more than one (like the key-chain in the picture) and 2) I lose them. In teaching for over six years, one could imagine how many files I have accumulated. I honestly cannot tell you the number of flash drives I have had (and lost) throughout my teaching career. What I DO know is at one moment I'll have three on a key ring when I get to work and only two when I leave. Luckily, the one that fell off was not the most important of the three. Regardless, something had to be better, so I decided to buy the “next best thing.”

Once completing a little product research, I decided to purchase an external hard drive. The external hard drive I purchased cost about $80 and could hold up to 320GB. Bestbuy.com has (and had back then) a great selection as well ranging in price from $50-$200+ and from 80GB to 4+TB. Like the flash drives, the greater price corresponded to either more space or additional security features. Below is an image of my external hard drive attached to my PC at school.

When I first bought the device, it worked wonderfully! I had plenty of room, could take it anywhere, attach it to any computer, and despite it costing more than a flash drive, I felt the $80 was worth it. Over time however, I experienced (and still do) quite a number problems with it. The most important being the cable does not connect well to the device. This is most likely due to the frequent insertion and removal of the cable. Originally, it clicked in and stayed to function as designed. Now, the cable rests “connected” so any movement of the external hard drive while “connected” is problematic. In addition, the security features have malfunctioned for some reason and now, are TOO effective. I sporadically cannot download or put new files on the hard drive, I can only view them, which is a problem.  

After losing flash drives then not being able to add, remove, or alter files on my external hard drive, I decided to ditch the hardware and take it to the cloud, and I could not be happier. I created an account with Dropbox.com, downloaded the app to my computers (PC and MAC) and to my iPhone. The biggest point to emphasize is Dropbox’s ease of accessibility. Wherever you have Internet or cellular service, you can use Dropbox. It is fantastic! In addition to being able to access my Dropbox from virtually anywhere, creating an account to receive 2GB of storage is free! Once created, you can earn 500MB of space per person you refer to Dropbox who creates an account up to a specified number of Gigabytes, again, for free! Below is an example of my Dropbox account on my iPhone.

The iPhone app works very well in addition to working with other apps on the phone; so again, accessing your files is simple and can be done practically anywhere. The application for the computer works similarly. Once downloaded, it acts like a normal folder on your hard drive, but syncs with the cloud as soon as a file is changed. It’s quite amazing to upload a screen capture from my phone (as I did in the image above), then see the file immediately available on my Mac, PC, iPhone, and in my Dropbox account online (assuming I had a browser open). If that is not the epitome of accessing your storage, I do not know what is!

So, there you have it. Using cloud computing for storage is my favorite. It's inexpensive (free), highly accessible, and can potentially provide you with a substantial amount of space. Additionally, you need not worry about loosing files or device mechanical/technological failure. Really, with using cloud computing for storage, what more could you ask for?

-Mark O

 

Students Plagiarize. So what do you do?

Maybe not so much in this world of Education Technology, but I feel, usually, we mathematics teachers have the stigma of being very rigid, analytical, and…well…not very creative. I believe it has mostly to do with the whole Right-brained vs. Left-brained argument. Whatever the situation, I know that I do not identify with these usual ways of thinking. (Side note: this is probably also why I prefer to teach Geometry to Algebra) I much rather prefer project-based learning to standardized testing. But my school, district, state, etc. still deem it a necessary and effective tool. Reluctantly, I comply. Despite this, I constantly strive to create and assign relevant projects (using the appropriate technology of course) that allow the student to work cooperatively, think critically, and use their creativity to demonstrate mastery on a topic. In most cases, likely all, my assignments require the student to conduct some sort of research, create something original, provide solutions, then finally, evaluate themselves and their peers. We cannot forget, after-all, to implement Bloom’s Higher Order Thinking strategies (Evaluating and Creating, specifically) to provide a meaningful challenge to the student (Heer, 2011).

So what happens when students plagiarize material for a high school project that is intended to use original, self-generated elements for the final product? Why do they do it? As suggested by Robert Harris, most high school students do not know what actual plagiarism is. I agree in that most students honestly believe that whatever is on the Internet is “fair game” and theirs to use (2012). Continuing with Harris’s thoughts, while this does not apply to ALL, many students for whatever reason (that could be another topic for another day) focus on getting it done by whatever means necessary versus properly managing time, documenting resources, and following the proper steps for giving credit to the original source (2012). In an activity I described a few posts back, I came across a group who plagiarized. After doing a quick Google search I concluded what was submitted was not authentic work.

 For me, though unsure of the best route to take,  I went for the teachable moment. I share in some of the blame, as I could have taken better preventative measures. First, while the idea and instructions were clear, I could have required a more specific, authentic deliverable to be submitted. Often times, plagiarism occurs in generic assignments, the more interesting and unique, the less likely items are or even can be plagiarized (Renard, 1999). Second, while I suggested a timeline for having resources accumulated, I did not require due dates for key elements of the project; outline, rough draft, annotated bibliography, etc. (Harris, 2012). Instead, I assumed the students were clear on how to properly use and cite resources. Lastly, and most importantly when it comes to the overall grade of the project, I neglected to delineate specific penalties for plagiarized work (Harris, 2012). To me, failing a student without them knowing the risks (even-though you would assume they know this already) seems unfair. Similar to a scoring rubric, students must know the rules of the game before playing. 

So what was the result of this? I spoke with this group (and another actually), explained to them the issue, discussed how to fix it, and talked about consequences should the issue persist with this project and in future assignments. I expect to have properly cited material from my students during the next go around. After these experiences, both parties involved. They learned that just because it appears online, does not mean it is free to use. I learned not to assume students know this in detail and must be reminded to always give credit where credit is due. I also learned that one of best ways combat plagiarism is to prevent it through better teaching practices and creating more interesting lessons, which require a more personalized product. In doing this, we increase the awareness and accountability on behalf of the student and, as the teacher, continue to grow and develop our skills to provide learning experiences that are creative, relevant and authentic.

References:

Harris, R. (2012, February 28). Anti-plagiarism for research papers. Retrieved from        

          http://www.virtualsalt.com/antiplag.htm

Heer, R. (2011, June 07). A model of learning objectives. Retrieved from http://www.celt.iastate.edu

          /teaching/RevisedBlooms1.html

Renard, L. (1999). Cut and paste 101: Plagiarism and the net. Educational Leadership, 57(4), 38-42.

Personal Learning Network – What's it to you?

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After watching the video on networked students I immediately thought of who was in my Personal Learning Network? Who do I reach out to for ideas, thoughts, guidance, etc? How do we connect? I then thought about whose network I was member of, and specifically, whose network do I support?

I learn the most from my use of Social Media. Using Facebook, LinkedIn, blogs and now Twitter (thank you Dr. Thompson!) to connect with friends, professors, classmates, and other professionals involved in the Education Technology community, has been an invaluable tool. With these sites, I can communicate and learn, firsthand, about virtually any topic almost instantly. The information shared, and topics considered are usually accurate as those in my network, I personally selected and trust. An added bonus to my PLN is reaping the benefits of my PLN’s network, as they too, presumably have quality people to whom they can reach out. The beauty of this concept of Personal Learning Networks is how quality and relevant resources and information are being evaluated, tested, filtered and shared constantly and on SUCH a huge scale to support one another. Take this, for example: I can share a lesson that I’ve created, with a member of my network. He uses it, loves it, then shares MY lesson, his experiences, successes, and recommendations with his network and in theory, this could continue on and on. It’s impressive to think that something I generated could benefit someone anywhere in the world. In return, I can benefit from the same thing. Granted, I would tend to be more cautious as the connection becomes more distant. But that’s not to say the consideration would not be made and/or tailored to my specific wants and needs. 

As I consider myself an integral piece of the members of my PLN, whether they know it or not, I am also that to the networks of my colleagues and definitely my students (yes, students). Most of the teachers at my school know me. They know who I am, what I teach, and most importantly, that I am the “techie teacher”.  But, for whatever reason, while the interest in integrating technology may be there (or maybe not) very few teachers on campus regularly reach out for ideas and support. For most, my role to them is rather one sided as they may not immediately see the value in all that I propose. Regardless, I know they see what I post. They read what I suggest, and maybe not immediately, but “when they have time” inevitably, will go for it, take the plunge, and do something new and technologically innovative for their lessons. (Win!) The images below are a sample of what I have posted to our school’s email conference and a list of everyone who read one of my postings and suggestions. It’s pretty impressive, no? 

I made this posting at the beginning of the year to let my teachers know about Dropbox and give them a few suggestions on how they could use it to make their jobs MUCH easier.

My students, fortunately, lack the luxury of being so passive with my involvement in their Personal Learning Network. Aside from my role as their teacher, I FREQUENTLY push them to learn more through using technology to support and enhance their own learning experience. As in the Networked Student video, my students often participate in class discussions (Edmodo) with each other to share resources, videos, and websites they have found useful on a specific or lesson. They, unbeknownst to them, evaluate websites to determine quality and reliability as they relate to our lessons. They also, determine a site’s relevance to them and their needs for mastering a lesson. They use Web 2.0 tools to create personalized material and content. They even watch and create reflections based on videos I have posted that related to how AWESOME and functional using technology is for their learning!

To me, using your Personal Learning Network is as important as being a functional member of other’s PLNs. In doing so we perpetuate great ideas and concepts, modify those that require change(s), and continually support on another, the needs of those involved in education, ending with the students’. I believe the quote is “It’s better to give than to receive”. In this case, those in need are usually teachers looking for a better way to reach his/her kids. So, what better way than to lend support and indirectly make an impact on a student? 

Reflection: Class Activity on Searching and Managing Online Resources

My experience with the activity in my course's learning module, searching for and managing online educational materials, was fairly simple, yet valuable. To be honest (and I’m slightly embarrassed to admit this), until this course, I had not used Google Scholar. I was not even aware it existed. In the past, I had used Google to find what I needed. The Quia.com website, for example, I came across years ago by doing a Google search for web-based testing (or maybe online testing). Then, like now, many results came up. Back then, like now, I spent a great deal of time reading and sifting through Google’s results to identify the most appropriate site for my needs. Using just Google, I found many sites pertaining to web-based testing, but at the time, most were not what I was looking for. It’s important to mention, at the time, the resource (Quia.com/web) came up on the first page of search results, while now listed on the third (and really, who goes much past the first page of results?). In any event, I suppose this is another example of the ever changing World Wide Web and the resources it contains.

Similar to Google, I found many of the traditional search engines (Ask.com and Yahoo!) yielded similar results. However, I did find Google in Education to very useful. By clicking “For Teachers” you are linked to Google’s site for teacher resources. Personally, I found myself more interested professional development. The Training and Development Link (bookmarked and shared) brought me to a page that highlighted tools, by Google, to support teachers furthering their own knowledge in various categories. Here, there are links to videos, tutorials, Webinars, and trainings available through Google, which I felt impressive that so much had been made available in one location.

To continue with the assignment, while I use the UCF library’s search tools, I find myself frequently frustrated by all the options and choices available. It’s similar to why I despise going grocery shopping…there are too many options to choose from! Google Scholar is a lifesaver and a great supplemental tool to the UCF library. Continuing the activity, we were asked to search for a research article written by one of our professors. Using Google Scholar made it simple! I found an article written by Dr. Gunter and Dr. Kenny about instructional gaming, which is an area of educational technology that interests me as well. On a more practical note, I take my Comprehensive Exam this March and will be compiling materials in preparation soon. I foresee being familiar and comfortable with Google Scholar and Diigo (required in this course) as a great way to gather and manage the documents and resources I will use to be successful on my exam. Further, I imagine the citation feature will be equally useful and valuable.

BrainPop, eSchool News, Google in Education and Atomic Learning resources addressed NETS-T standard 5, as they each offer online professional development opportunities for technology and technology integration into the classroom. I found Atomic Learning through a search of our district’s website, and feel it quite comprehensive. Once in, you can search through a variety of lessons, which instruct on how to use specific types of technology. Additionally, the user has the ability to search for lessons after identifying search criteria such as class subject or software preference. BrainPop’s Webinar site serves two purposes. First, users can register and attend live webinars on topics BrainPop provides. The second, the user can view and learn from past webinars they have archived. I felt BrainPop and eSchool News, specifically, are helpful for this and future classes as we often attend Webinars on Ed Tech topics and reflect on what we learned and experienced. I believe my suggested resources NETS-T Standards 2.  Each supports a teacher’s ability to design, develop, and evaluate digital learning experiences, for their students (standard 2). Each is, in some facet, a resource that can be used to further and enhance digital lessons.

To wrap up this activity, after experimenting with different search engines, I was able to utilize and locate quite a few interesting sites, which I shared with the course. Using Google Scholar was my biggest Ah-ah moment, as research has been a challenge of mine in the past. Upon searching through our State and County Websites, I would describe the State’s website to be confusing to navigate and less useful (to me) as a teacher. My county’s website (surprisingly) was more useful to me as I was able to find links, sites, and support that I could use NOW. On Diigo, I chose to share resources that my peers would find useful in their teaching as well as throughout this program. This link will direct you to my list of resources I shared with the class:

http://groups.diigo.com/group/eme5050/content/user/m_ophaug

Teaching with Technology: Effective or Convenient?

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Dr. Scott McLeod’s question, “Are we doing what is best for our students, or are we doing what is most convenient for us?” is a great question to ask of all things related to education with a usual focus on lesson planning and instruction. As we (well…some of us) continue to integrate technology or implement different instructional systems into our traditional classrooms, McLeod’s question must be recalled to insure we, as educators, are in fact making the impact we intend to make to support our students’ growth and achievement. I feel that in most instances, we teachers believe that whatever it is we do in our classrooms, however innovative, creative, or traditional the lesson may be, the bottom-line is for the betterment of our kids. The use of technology is frequently thought to be both a convenient and effective way to promote student growth. While, from personal experience, I know this is not the case, Alice Mercer’s response (May 5^th 2007, 1:07pm) to Dr. McLeod’s question really hit the nail on the head so to speak, because she details the four basic possibilities when it comes to ANY lesson relating Effectiveness and Convenience. She describes four possible scenarios where a lesson might be categorized based on results. From her response, I created an image to help better visualize what she mentions in her posting (see below).

So how does this relate to the use of technology for instruction? The answer: It is directly related. Technology is simply another tool we can use to support and deliver our instruction. With that in mind, it is possible to use technology effectively and ineffectively, which might be either convenient or inconvenient for the teacher. In all cases, the responsibility lies with us to decide which technology tool would best support the lesson and the learner to maximize the outcomes (integration literacy). I’ve found it best, to focus on the final product or outcome, design the lesson, then determine what technology would be best for that particular lesson.

Most recently, I had been working with my students on properties of quadrilaterals. In this particular lesson, their team of three was assigned a quadrilateral and they were to create original test questions, varying in complexity (low, medium, and high) to then be shared with their peers as a way to study for our chapter test. After identifying the intent (objective and goals) of the lesson and desired outcome(s) I assigned the lesson. In the past, I had done this lesson traditionally (poster paper and markers), less traditionally (dry-erase markers on the cabinets), on the computers (PowerPoint) but this time with a Web 2.0 tool (GoogleDrive) and an educational social networking page (Edmodo) to share what they created. Below, I’ve listed the URLs for the top projects for each period. Based on project results (using a rubric of course), test results, and student written feedback, I was pleased with the outcomes.

1.     http://tinyurl.com/aerhrb9

2.     http://tinyurl.com/bx4lqto

3.     http://tinyurl.com/co72wy5

Was this lesson effective? I would say so. Convenient? Pretty much. As I mentioned before, though, this lesson was not originally created with technology use in mind. It was created so my students could demonstrate they understood properties of quadrilaterals and how to use such properties to solve for variables in geometric scenarios. The technology, therefore, was added after the fact to better support the lesson and be more on par with the learning styles of my students. I’m almost prone to say focus on the desired outcomes first, create the lesson second, and then incorporate the technology (where applicable) third. In that light, I feel convenience and effectiveness can be high while maximizing student results; which is what we all are interested in accomplishing.

References: 


McLeod, S. (2007). dangerously ! irrelevant Technology, Leadership, and the Future of Schools. Retrieved

January 15, 2013 from http://www.dangerouslyirrelevant.org/2007/05/well_whats_your.html

Shelly, G. B., Gunter, G. A., & Gunter, R. E. (2012). Teachers Discovering Computers: Integrating

Technology in a Connected World (7th Ed.). Boston, MA: Course Technology.