Click, Click

I hate multiple choice questions with a passion. I think they are meant to confuse and trick students without actually testing knowledge. I dread these types of tests, exams, and quizzes as a student and I have vowed to never use them as a teacher. I view assessments as a chance for students to prove how much they know and understand - it should enforce good things, not punish bad things. I personally think that writing and discussion are the best ways to test knowledge and I plan to use them as much as possible in my future classroom.

This brings me to the idea of clickers. I have had one class while in college that I was required to purchase and use an iClicker for. In case you haven't heard of them, these are hand held remotes that allow everyone to 'click' in an answer to a question. These keyed responses then show up on the screen instantly. There are many different types but the one I used just had options for A, B, C, or D. The idea behind these systems seems good. It allows the teacher to get immediate feedback, if there is confusion it allows for questions, and it is an easy way to take attendance. My personal issue with these systems is that is only lends itself to more multiple choice questions. Of course, as with anything, it can be used creatively to elicit discussion, but unfortunately that is not their prominent use.

I can see many opportunities for uses of Classroom Response Systems (CRS) similar to iClicker in schools but I worry that it breeds a mentality of 'just showing up' without actually comprehending the work. I may be jaded since this is the overall opinion at the college level, but it is not something I would want to start in younger grades. Another negative aspect of them is the expense. In a high school it would be unrealistic for each student to be required to buy them, and for a school district to foot the bill would also be inappropriate. Overall, I am intrigued by CRSs but definitely not converted. Photo

Getting Jing-y With It

My frustrated battle with technology continues on. The thing that I have noticed most about working with various types of technology is that, for the most part they are created to make a task easier. However, they take several hours to find, register for, confirm, and figure out before you can even start using them. I have created so many new combinations of user names and passwords, my head is spinning. Ultimately, the programs do prove to be useful or time effective, but it always seems to take a lot of trail and error before reaching that point.

I have been playing around with a program called Jing. This is an online screen capture that allows you to take real time pictures or videos of your computer screen as you work on it. The purpose is to create short tutorials or explanations while using certain programs. One really interesting feature that not many other free online programs have is the ability to add a voice narrative as you work.

I found this program incredibly visually appealing and easy to use at first. It's pretty straight-forward because it doesn't perform a huge range of functions. That being said, I was really disappointed when it came time to save and attempt to export the video I had made. Even after watching several tutorials and trying several different things, I was unable to figure out where my projects were saving and how to get them into a usable format. One tutorial gave an explanation for how to embed a file, which I got very excited about. After signing up for yet another program that was meant to house my work in between Jing and it's final destination, I found out there is a size restriction on uploads. The video is of me simply opening Firefox and finding a website. Overall i think this could be a really interesting tool but I can't see there being many instances for use in a classroom.

Flying with Google Earth

This week I spent some time exploring and playing with the Google Earth download available through Google. I've heard so much about it and seen it used mostly just for fun. Now that I have downloaded it I've realized what an awesome tool it could be in a classroom. With budget cuts and funding in schools being revoked, as well as the logistics usually involved, field trips are scarce at every level of school, but Google Earth would enable me to take a class half way across the world to look directly at some of the things we are studying. They have really neat historical and location features that I could use to show landmarks, geographical areas, cities, and interesting sites that correspond with lessons. This goes nicely with the last TPACK exploration that I did about virtual field trips as well. To pair a virtual tour of the Smithsonian with a walking tour of downtown Washington D.C. and the Smithsonian museums would be an incredibly effective lesson without leaving my classroom. Here is a screenshot I took while I was exploring the MSU campus -

Another feature that could be really useful is the Tour function. This allows you to record and share a tour of a specific area and provide narration. This could be used to either supplement a lecture or lesson, or as a presentation school for student projects.

Also, here is a really interesting blog (unofficial yet endorsed by Google) that explains some of GoogleEarth's features, gives tips, and information related to using the download.

TPACK Exploration

As I've mentioned before, I am pretty overwhelmed with amount of information I have access to through the internet. Although it is fraught with complications from human and technology error, the internet gives us ways to view resources that we could never have imagined several decades ago. As a teacher, this prospect is incredibly exciting. With limited funds and the practicality of numerous field trips, we are able to share things with our students in a much smaller time frame with much less planning. Recently, I've been exploring the world of virtual museums and the opportunities that they present for a classroom. These are websites that have been developed in conjunction with an actual museum that allows access to the information displayed in permanent exhibits, traveling displays, and from their research or records. The wonderful part about museums (in any form) is the wealth of information they make available to the public. The purpose of them is to share in the education process and to spread knowledge to as many people as possible.

The idea of TPACK is to integrate Technological, Pedagogical, and Content knowledge into interesting, and useful lessons with a classroom. The emphasis of this theory is that all three are very important but that these types of learning and knowledge can all interact really successfully, and sometimes better than when used on their own.

Two of the websites I explored were from the Smithsonian (http://www.si.edu/) and the Library of Congress (http://www.americaslibrary.gov/) From the technological knowledge standpoint, these sites are fairly easy to use. As long as one has computer and internet access, these websites are available. Although it is an advanced idea, and the sites themselves are complex, they are easy to navigate and search for both myself and potential students. These types of resources can employ aspects of my personal pedagogy because it can assist me in creating engaging lessons. Although I would love to take every single one of my students to the Smithsonian in person, realistically I will be unable to, so I want to be able to offer the next best thing. The content of these sites is geared mostly towards social studies classrooms. Because the SI is home to so much information, it can really be used across many disciplines - or possibly in some type of cross curriculum activites. The LoC site specifically deals more with American history and has a lot of interactive features that would be interesting to incorporate.