Engaging Students through In Class Technologies (ESTICT)

Last week I braved the cold and wet weather and travelled to Bath University for a one-day conference on Engaging students through the use of in Class technologies.

The keynote speech was delivered virtually (wasn’t sure how well this approach would work but it was great) by Derek Bruff, Assistant Director at the Vanderbilt University Center for Teaching

Bruff shared his ideas and thoughts for using Classroom Response Systems aka, Audience Response systems aka Clickers all terms used to refer to a variety of systems that students can use to respond in the classroom. He then went on to talk about other backroom channels that can be used to engage students.

There has been a lot of discussion and scepticism about how effective Audience Response Systems (ARS) can be in the classroom especially since alot of lecturers don’t believe multiple choice questions can effectively be used to allow for deep learning. Derek’s discussion addresses this issue focussing on the kind of questions that can be asked to ensure that deep learning is occurring.

Critical thinking questions: design questions with several reasonable answers and some obviously bad ones. Because several answers are close to being correct then once responses have been made and students have viewed the graph representing what answers most students chose then it creates an environment for students to argue out/discuss why they think one answer is better than the other. One way of phrasing the questions would be ‘Choose the most significant……’The choices presented would all be significant but students would need to argue why they think one of the options is most significant. Derek in his presentation goes on to argue that students come to school either as Absolutists - everything is black and white while others are relativists - they think everything is a matter of opinion. He argues that designing critical thinking questions allows for students to move to a more evaluative mode or form of thinking.

Student perspective questions: These questions allow the teacher and students to learn about each other. They are probably the kind of questions that most students would not want to put their hands up and answer. Allowing students to use the ARS to respond and see what their peers think; they may find that other students have the same views and they therefore feel more comfortable arguing or discussing their thoughts e.g. What if….? What would you do….? What do you think….? kind of questions.

Time for telling questions: These questions allow the teacher to create a condition for students to want to listen, learn, and understand an explanation. One way of doing this is asking questions that challenge common misconceptions.

Backchannel talk in the classroom

Backchannel talk refers to discussions that go on the classroom using technologies such as twitter and Google moderator, which allow students to engage in discussions and ask questions. They provide similar functionality to the ARS but with the ARS the Lecturer is asking the questions. Using Backchannel allows students to ask the questions.

Google moderator was introduced to us in an activity embedded within Derek’s presentation. It required us to ask Derek questions. We got together in groups; discussed what questions we had; then posted these on Google moderator. We were then able to see what questions had been posted by other groups and vote on them. Derek was then able to answer the top most voted for questions. http://tinyurl.com/estictkeynote
Another example of use of Backchannel (twitter in this case) can be found on this you tube video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6WPVWDkF7U8

Student Motivation

To close the key note Derek spoke of three different factors that play a big role in motivating students.
Autonomy: students want to feel like they have control over their learning: ARS and backroom channel allow students to express themselves and ask questions that matter to them. They give students a voice
Competency: students want to feel like they are learning something. Ask easy questions they do not feel like they have learned if they are too hard, they may give up. Lectures need to ask questions that are in the Zone of Proximal Development (a balance between hard and easy.)
Connecting and sharing: students want to feel like they are part of a community and want to learn from each other and share ideas.


Derek’s full presentation can be found via the following links Part 1, Part 2.

A summary of all presentations made by a host of other speakers can be found via the following link https://wiki.bath.ac.uk/display/estaffdev/ESTICT+at+Bath A key one that stood out was that done by Dr Andrew Dent ‘Engineering adventures through Audience Response Systems’ I would recommend viewing this presentation. He uses PowerPoint and ARS kits to provide a non-liner presentation based on feedback from students. An approach that will definitely keep students engaged. http://coursecast.bath.ac.uk/Panopto/Pages/Viewer/Default.aspx?id=20b06c3a-c314-434d-9531-ef954061fa22

A summary of some of the afternoon sessions and the other different technologies that were showcased and are available via the document here https://wiki.bath.ac.uk/download/attachments/51089603/Technology+Fair+Brochure.pdf?version=1&modificationDate=1290504521000

Final thoughts

It was definitely worthwhile meeting with peers from other institutions who are keen to help lecturers develop and explore different ways of using Classroom technologies. I am keen to explore the approaches presented by Derek Bruff and especially the use of backroom channels to take things outside of the classroom so watch this space to see how this goes.

Reflecting on what we have achieved so far

So tomorrow I'm meeting with Phil to reflect on what we have achieved on the classroom Technologies project so far. I'm a bit panicky because I don't think I have much to report back. I've had a look at the PB works site and though there is a bit of documentation there. How much of it will be useful and help us write up some useful material for staff?

From the beginning:

We had the successful group meeting which we captured on video and I think a lot of the content in it would be extremely useful. Staff talked about their use of technology, their fears , what they would like to see etc.


I've also collated a bit of feedback from staff about their use of ARS, very little on the Whiteboards and digital technologies so this is probably something I need to follow up a bit more.

Next steps as discussed with Phil :

• Look at the Green Room equipment booking pages and email staff to get as much feedback about their use of the kit they have borrowed
• Try and get the rest of the team more involved - their ideas/thoughts and experiences would be very useful
• Work on a template for flip cards on good practice
• Classify the technologies in various categories and feedback on how they impact in the classroom
• Look through all feedback collated and summarise this for a report
• List all examples of practice
• Think about what we will present at the next Learning and Teaching Conference
• Write feedback from the Handheld Technologies Conference

Lots to do but all very exciting...

Virtual Farming Is Bearing Fruits

Virtual Farming Is Bearing Fruits: "How to optimally market honey, to cultivate a field or to avoid soil erosion is what small-holding farmers can learn - among many other topics - from innovative three-dimensional learning visualisations, which are now available in Zimbabwe. At eLearning Africa 2009, Justin Mupinda, Country Programme Coordinator at World Links Zimbabwe, explained how the so-called 'interactive 3d learning objects' (i3dlos) tools make use of the power of virtual reality (VR) and a person's visual strengths to 'grow' the human mind. The initiators are the Naledi3D Factory, a South African company situated near Pretoria, which is a UNESCO partner, the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, the Open Society Initiative for Southern Africa, Eskom and regional initiatives such as World Links Zimbabwe."

Glogster- Online Poster Making and Sharing

I've been looking for an online poster making site for students on the Psychology Research methods module to use next semester. As part of the course they are required to create posters in groups and do a presentation. This has always been done on manila paper with students trying to get as creative as possible with pieces of scrap paper. A few weeks ago I came across a site know as Glogster and I thought nothing of it until George mentioned that he would like his students to make posters online and I remembered the site.

I looked into it a little deeper yesterday and I was pleased to find that they have an area that is specifically for educational purposes and it protects students from inappropriate content and up to 200 students can be registered per account. It allows users to upload various forms of media such as photos, videos, text and audio and to create a unique online, interactive poster.

I am quite excited about this and have emailed George with details and he seems to like the idea. The next step is obviously to research it a little more and make sure that we can go ahead and use the service. We wouldn't want students doing so much work and losing it. I also need to create a few posters and work on some guidelines for students. For more information on Glogster please follow this link: http://www.glogster.com/edu

Planning for the Research Methods Module

I met with George Georgiou yesterday to plan for his research methods module for next semester.

The module runs over the Autumn semester. The main challenge is that the class size is quite large and George, who is the the module convener would like to make the class much more fun and lively for the students as well as ensure they learn the most from the different lecture sessions and get them engaged as much as possible.

George is keen to use the Audience Response Systems. These were used by Barbara Kingsley who ran the module last year to run a revision session. They proved extremely useful and popular and students gained a lot from it. Information on Barbara's use of the ARS systems can be found in the classroom technologies wiki site (this is a member only area at present.) George is planning to use them twice next semester. At the middle, to run a revision class and at the end of term for another revision session.

I also discussed the possibility of using the flip cameras with students. I really like the idea of student/user generated content. I suggested that since students would be working in groups throughout the term that we could get them to summarise each lecture and share this with other students online via StudyZone. Each week a different group would be responsible for generating content. The videos would then be shared via the discussion tool allowing other students to share their comments and feedback as well. Students will receive a bonus grade towards their final mark for their videos. A few things that I need to look into before this is rolled out:

• Can we get students to upload to google videos and then create a link to the videos in StudyZone (look at data protection issues)
• Create some guidelines for students
• Book flip cameras ( is one enough?)

I'm quite excited about this and I really hope that students engage with it. Hopefully the development of these videos will allow students to develop their

• Group working skills
• Presentation skills
• Learn to revise and reflect on what they have learnt
• Share their thoughts and ideas with others

Mahara 09 Conference

I’ve been debating as to whether I should put the content of this posting here. This blogspot was created specifically for the Classroom Technologies Project but I think for now, I will keep all the eLearning posts in one place and if it becomes too much move my postings around.

What is an eportfolio? Click on the link for some more information.

Mahara? Well Mahara is an open source eportfolio tool that integrates with Moodle which is the new VLE we are looking at implementing. Once we have moved to Moodle it will be bye bye to the WebCT portfolio tool which I must admit is not the best of eportfolio tool out there.

The Mahara 09 conference was an opportunity to meet professionals from both FE and HE institutions and see how they have been implementing eportfolios and also find out more about Mahara and eporfolios in general. The session started with a presentation from Lisa Gray. She highlighted the various reasons for using them, employability, PDP requirement, assessment etc. One statement she made that got me thinking was when she said that it had the potential to transform the process of learning. I am hoping that some comments from those reading this blog will open up a discussion on this. The process of reflection is very useful to me though doing it is another story. I learn best when I reflect and get the opportunity to gather my thoughts. I think a structured/guided approach to reflecting would help any learner immensely. Activities that keep the learner engaged and interested and are meaningful would be a start and in fact the learner might not even know they are reflecting. Being able to keep evidence of my professional development in 1 place i think is so useful and no my USB stick would not suffice.....

Another statement made by Lisa during her presentation which got me thinking was when she was highlighting the various definitions of what an eportfolio is. The jury is definitely still out on this “The problem is that portfolio is a learning approach and not a technology." This is a statement taken from a publication by Trent Batson and the full document can be found here . We have so many different eportfolio systems out there, all to an extent providing the same tools. Have we been paying too much attention to the tool rather than the process? Getting all excited about the different eportfolio tools out there but not giving any guidance on how to effectively build, develop and transform the learning process? The whole process of what to present, how to reflect, how to engage and do something meaningful with the portfolio is what matters. Yes?????

Case studies on how eportfolios have been used can be found via the Jisc Info kit http://www.jiscinfonet.ac.uk/case-studies/e-portfolios

Other than Lisa’s session I attended a couple of other workshops that were quite useful. I wont go into all the details they raised a few questions

Things to think about when implementing an eportfolio?

• Well make sure that you embed it into the curriculum to make it meaningful and purposeful. Don’t just tell students here is your eportfolio and I want this and this in it by the end of term.
• Think about what benefits there will be for the whole group.
• Provide some structure. The whole process of reflection is very hard.
• How about creating an eportfolio yourself ( I’m going to start on mine :-))

A presentation was done on Mahara and inter-operatability. Leap2A was a used to refer to a standard being developed that would allow users of different eportfolio systems to zip their files and move them to a different platform if need be. More information on this can be found here

A few things about Mahara that I need to look further into:

• creating templates (Can any user create a template and how is this shared?)
• Different user levels
• Portability and interoperability
• Enrolment on Mahara and Moodle - single sign on?
• What about a different name for the eportfolio rather than eportfolio. Call it something that makes it personal to the student???
  

The Classroom Technologies Project- Introductory meeting

Yippee... the meeting seems to have gone well!!!! As always, I was a nervous wreck but I think attendees found the session quite useful. (feedback would be much appreciated)

We started off at 12:30pm with lunch which was quite important in getting us all started.

Phil Cheeseman then kicked off the main business of the day with an introduction to what the project was about and this was followed by a presentation about the CAMEL Approach and why we chose to use this methodology to research and develop the toolkit that we aim to make available to all staff.

Tessa Willy then facilitated a discussion that allowed staff to get to know one another and find out about technologies staff have used and also allow staff to put forward ideas on what technologies they would like to use. Staff shared a range of ideas which were very useful from using social bookmarking tools, Audience Response systems, to creating online diaries and social spaces.

The session then moved onto a discussion about barriers that are experienced by many users when tying to use various technologies. Things like hardware problems, too much technology out there, not knowing when to apply what, fear of things going wrong were identified as some of the major things that put staff off using some technologies.

All in all I think it was a very informative session and a good start to the project as a whole.

If you missed out on attending this session you can watch the video clips on the Project Documents page of the wiki as we captured most of the proceedings on the cool flip cameras we have in the Green Room.