Guest Blogger: Uzoma James Chikwem
There is no question that there has
been unbelievable technological revolution in recent years that has changed our
businesses, governments, travel and pretty much everything but our educational
system, which for the most part, is still stuck in the past. There has been a
silent but quick mobile apocalypse that have made most smart phone users,
especially millennials, become almost like mobile zombies, or social media
fiends, that live with an uncontrollable urge to be plugged into their smart
phones at all times. In education, we always observe that it gets tougher each
year to grab the attention or interest of students due to what’s trending on
social media or some new technological announcement like the new iPhone coming
out. Even after creating the best PowerPoint presentations or coming up with
simple but profound handouts that explains everything about a topic, a majority
of students will still be on their phones or passed out during class. The fact that students have the internet in
their palms on a mobile device that has more power and memory than some
personal computers, makes them feel like genuine geniuses. Students can find
out any answer or solution by asking Siri or Google or get the latest
information on certain fields by following pages on social media. I believe
this misleading intellectual feeling of being able to know it all by using their
second brain, their smart device, is hindering or distracting students from
paying attention or wanting to learn anything in the classroom.
With all the technological advances
that has happened just in the last year alone, for example the use of Virtual Reality
plus Augmented Reality on phones, students often feel like they are in an ancient
dungeon when they come to the classroom and all they see are desks, blackboards
or whiteboards; even books and smart boards seem old fashioned to them. When Apple coined the phrase, “There’s an app
for that” it literally revolutionized the way everything is done in our day to
day lives; instead of reading books we can now just listen to them using audible;
if one doesn’t know how to solve a math problem, they can simply take a picture
using PhotoMath and it will quickly
show the results and steps to solving the problem. These two simple ideas for apps are making
lots of money and made life easier for users but can ruin the fun of learning
and the challenge of understanding how to get solutions to a problem. Through
critical thinking, analysis, memorization and repeatedly practicing problems anyone
can learn any subject or topic by putting time trying to understand it. Even
though it seems like a lost cause trying to teach nowadays, I often get praised
for how fun my classes are or get to view the excitement of students when they
figure out a lab or project. All because I use technology to get students to
learn, and if I can do it, we all can.
Since the educational problem we
face isn’t just happening at Lincoln University but internationally, computer
scientists, web designers and others are teaming up together to try and tackle
this huge issue of lost interest in learning and education. There are tons of
resources out there to assist in getting the interest of students in different
topics. I would like to help by listing some programs and websites I use in my
courses but would like to hear from faculty or students if there are other
sites, apps or anything else they use to grab students’ interest in
participating and enjoying the learning process. First off, I’d like to mention that I am in Computer
Science and my focus is Educational Game Technology so I am already at an
advantage because most of my labs, projects and tutorials involve use of fun
technologies and hands-on learning. Although, I have had a lot of computer
science faculty just lecture the whole class and totally lost me because I
wasn’t practicing or being hands on with the topic, I have had some great
professors, like Professor Barimani, whose style of teaching I try to utilize every
time and add my own flavor to it. He made sure that in every class he left room
for students to practice what he just taught, then gave feedback plus projects
before ending the class. When using
technology for teaching, just don’t throw it at students and expect them to
pick it up easily; one should always give a tutorial or workshop on how it
works, what you expect them to accomplish; guide them by giving requirements,
labs and more and make sure they know it’ll be part of their final grade to
complete plus participate.
Here’s a list of apps and website that can help students to
Learn through Technology:
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Name
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Link 1
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Link 2
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Moodle rooms
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Khan Academy
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Google Classrooms
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Kahoot
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Quizlet
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Prezi
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Ted-ed
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Science360
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Google Hangout
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Please research the names on the list, click on the links,
download the apps and in Part 2, I will describe in more detail how to use them
in classes. Also, please leave a comment
on how you utilize technology in your courses and any other tips you might have
of grabbing student’s attention.
So psyched to see Teaching Matters back this morning! And what a great topic, James. You have me reflecting on ALL of the technology that I currently use and have used in the past, but might want to revisit. Of course, Moodle and the Moodle Rooms app is at the top of the list. Moodle is the anchor of my courses. The app makes checking in super convenient for review or even to read student submissions. Google docs is a favorite among some students (and FYE gives students much practice with this one). This semester I am playing with Google Hangout as a “virtual office hour” site at night (10 PMish) to assist students with their writing projects at a time they are more likely to be working on them. Kahoot is a program I literally stumbled upon last year as I walked into a classroom and students were playing with it. We had fun taking grammar “quizzes” (and I was not the winner; these students are fast.) In the past I have used slideshow technology such as Animoto or Flipbook with students to recast their essays into a visual format. And I have given feedback through Word comments and track changes and Jing.
ReplyDeleteI am starting to think about game-based learning and gamification (apparently, there is a difference?). Much has been written about gamification in the writing classroom, but I would love to see what you have to say about the gamification philosophy as well as how you use your list of technologies in the classroom.
Thanks Bill for your response and comments. I plan on going into more detail like you have and hopefully add more to the topic like smart devices, learning strategies, gamification vs game-based learning. Sorry this reply might be long but I'll try to be as brief as I can but I love the question you brought up.
DeleteWhen I went to UPenn, for Computer Graphics and Game Technology, our main focus was to develop and research how make educational games, serious games, more fun for students and faculty using game-based learning in their classrooms. Game-based Learning is when students learn topics for a course by playing a game and has shown a lot of potential, especially for k-12 students, to not only get students involved in the learning process but also gain their interest in the topic they are playing causing students to try and master the topic so they can get a higher score than their friends in class. The reason why I'm interested in this field is because I believe it could be the best medium for education, or for learning anything, due to the simple fact that it allows students to repeatedly practice problems, like in math for instance, that they normally would never try or think they can do.
Games can accomplish all our problems by putting the player into a game world which helps them visualize the course topics that they might not be able to while sitting in the classroom and listening to the teacher lecture. But with some simple game mechanics like adding a score, rewards and more, students will take on the challenge, having to critically think on mastering the topic to prove they are better than their classmates. But the trick is making the process fun which the faculty has be involved in by maybe giving rewards, extra credit and privileges to the top scores or for completion. There are lots of proven theories I could try to get into but maybe for another blog, but there are plenty of research out there that debunk all the previous assumptions that all games are bad for kids and prove that kids that play more games are better at critical thinking, hand-eye coordination, less stressed and much more.
As for Gamification, I heard about this couple of years ago and even began a course on coursera to learn more about it, but it's simply adding game mechanics to non-game activities. Gamification has taken over reality and business as we know it due to our advancements in technology and we might not notice but just in social media alone, game mechanics have made us addicted to facebook, instagram, twitter and more by adding features like the like button, retweets, follows, comments and many more. To make a game fun and addictive, the players has to constantly get small rewards or affirmation and social media has taken that key concept of gamification and make most users addicted. Most companies have been using gamification like nike, Groupon, Nissan, Samsung, Swagbucks and many more but i wish there were more in education. There are more and more websites and educational apps that use it but I love how Khan academy utilizes gamification through awards plus points and faculty, or coaches, can track students viewing all the rewards, points and challenges they have accomplished. I'm currently using Khan academy for two of my courses and the students love it.
Sorry would love to get more into this topic but I have to get ready for class. I'll definitely try to write another blog about this topic because I truly believe it could solve all our educational problems but thought we could start slow by introducing how technology can be used for learning then get into serious games and gamification after.
Good Evening,
ReplyDeleteI am currently using a HyperDoc (Google) this semester with my nursing students.
There are many ways to develop a HyperDoc. You should check it out if you are familar with Google apps.
Sharvette Law Philmon, MSN, RN, NEA-BC, CNE
Thanks, haven't heard of HyperDoc, will definitely check it out.
DeleteGreat blog, James! I like XMind,(https://www.xmind.net/) which offers a free version for mind mapping. Also, I like tools for generating “word clouds” such as Wordle (http://www.wordle.net/), Word It Out (https://worditout.com/), and you can find a few more at Edudemic (http://www.edudemic.com/9-word-cloud-generators-that-arent-wordle/)
ReplyDeleteWith October being Cyber Security Month, I cannot help but consider the use of online software programs and FERPA laws. To use Google, you must log in with a Google account. This account has your name and other personal information. Google searches email accounts for data mining purposes. This is something we need to consider when using Google. Lincoln does not pay for a business version (Google Drive) of Google, which is more secure when considering FERPA. This is one of the reasons, ATS suggests using Moodlerooms instead of Google classrooms.
The University of Michigan has screened websites and offered an approved list of programs for storing and sharing student information at their University. I am not sure if we do this. I have not seen such a list on Lincoln’s website (but, I may have missed it).
Here are a couple more sites that may be of interest:
http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2014/03/13/26google.h33.html
http://www.legal.uillinois.edu/ferpa
Respectfully,
Brenda
Thanks for the insight and additional websites. I never thought about the laws and how using free apps or websites puts us at risk to giving personal information out. I personally just put my grades on excel and webadvisor then always giving out feedback on missing assignments or quizzes when I return work or in the beginning of class. But I know a lot of courses use Google Docs and Blogger and I guess that's something the faculty Committee or the University has to vote on, what sites should be legal to use when grading or adding student's personal information.
DeleteThe online presence of my course is anchored in Moodle and I do require students to complete assignments in Moodle outside of class, but I also use technology in the classroom to engage students. The hows and whats of that technology depend on the class. Some classes love PollEverywhere, which allows students to use their phone to take a "poll" that can be a multiple choice, true false, or short answer question. It can be used to assess the class as a whole on the material that was just covered, or to determine how the class feels about something, etc. I also rely heavily on Youtube for videos with narration about science concepts - students seem to like it and I can rely on experts in the field to convey a message. While Youtube is not interactive in itself, it serves as a great foundation for class interaction, and mimics content delivery that students are used to. In general, I encourage students to ask google for answers and then critically think about and discuss with their classmates those answers.
ReplyDelete