Learning with Technology

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:

Name	Link 1	Link 2
Moodle rooms	Android Link	Apple Link
Khan Academy	Students	Faculty
Google Classrooms	Android Link	Apple Link
Kahoot	Android Link	Apple Link
Quizlet	Android Link	Apple Link
Prezi	Website	Mobile
Ted-ed	Website	Lessons
Science360	Android Link	Apple Link
Google Hangout	Android Link	Apple Link

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.

Parallels among Dictators, Parents, and Teachers

“Sometimes, it’s okay to be a dictator” – those are words of advice given to me by my husband as he saw me struggle with our one-and-a-half-year-old twins fourteen years ago. He didn’t want me to turn into a Stalin or Mussolini, but he saw my frustration and called on my leadership skills. Being a natural consensus builder, I was frustrated as a parent when one twin wanted to go to the pool and the other to the playground, or one pointed to Good Night Moon and the other to The Itsy Bitsy Spider for the bedtime story. I wanted them both to be happy and come to agreement on an activity or book. But you don’t build consensus with toddlers! I had to learn to accept that I was in charge and sometimes needed to be the “dictator” – or at least a unifying and determined leader.

At this point you may be wondering what raising twins and being a dictator has to do with teaching. I think teaching is a lot like parenting. Both involve unfolding malleable minds to infuse common sense, wisdom, skills, interests, passion, and more. As educators, we are often passionate about our subject areas and willing to share our knowledge with our students endlessly. But how informed are we about the skills of teaching, of transferring information and generating knowledge in the classroom? How prepared are we to transform our classrooms into well-managed and bustling hubs of learning? Just like I had very little formal education in parenting before I had children, I never took a course in pedagogy or classroom management prior to teaching. I learned most of what I know about teaching from my mother, who was a school teacher for over 50 years. I also learned from my colleagues, from being a student myself, from parenting, participating in workshops, and from experiences in the classroom. Classroom management is not an easy task and it is not something that just happens without effort. However, with some directed energy into classroom management, you can achieve teaching and learning experiences that are rewarding for both yourself and your students.

Here are my seven tips for classroom management:

1.     Model behavior: This is the most important aspect of both parenting and teaching: they will copy what you do.  If you want your students to be on time, you need to be on time and ready to start the class when the bell rings. When you give the students respect, they will respect you in return – well, at least mostly. If you are organized and have a well-thought-out lesson plan, students will take the classroom experience seriously and organize their notes, learning and participation accordingly. If you have a no-cellphone policy, that means that you also need to put away your cell phone and not answer texts or calls during class time – or even use the phone to check the time. If you expect students to turn in assignments on time, you need to return assignments, exams and quizzes on time.

2.     Set clear expectations: Many experts of classroom management will tell you that it starts with the syllabus. If your syllabus spells out clear expectations and you follow it, the students know what to expect in your class. Taking attendance is always a great idea – it helps you learn the students’ names and it signals to the students that you expect them to be in the classroom. Take attendance at the beginning of class and mark latecomers tardy if you expect students to be on time.

3.     Be consistent and fair: Treat everybody the same, give everybody a chance to participate, don’t change policies midstream; if an assignment is due at midnight on Monday that is when it is due – not the next morning, not the next day and not at a different time for a privileged few.

4.     Don’t take it personally: Students that act up in class are usually not reacting (only) to something that you did or didn’t do; they are likely bringing in baggage from their life to the classroom. We all have good and bad days. Students that are stressed because their relative is in the hospital, their partner is cheating on them, or their car broke down may not be the best student that day, or even that week or month. None of this is your fault or something that you have control over. You only have control over the classroom and yourself. By letting go of resentment you can focusing on how your behavior may help the student manage him or herself better in your classroom.

5.     Be flexible: The students at Lincoln today are very different from the students ten years ago. Society changes and our students change with it. Take the example of fake news on social media. Social media was just starting ten years ago and while fake news has always been around, it was never as contagious or damaging as it has proven to be in the last several months. This means that you have to change your teaching to keep up with the times. For example, today students need to learn how to distinguish an ever-increasing onslaught of inaccurate information from accurate information. How have you adapted your teaching accordingly?

6.     Redirect behavior: Let’s say you have a student or two that always seem distracted by their cell phones – they just don’t seem to be able to let go of their attachment to these devices. Rather than yelling at them, calmly call the student out (thereby letting them know that you are watching and that you care) by asking him or her to use the cellphone to look up information for the class.

7.     Don’t be afraid to lead (because sometimes it's okay to be a dictator): The students are looking to you for direction, recognition and approval. It takes both courage and trust to stand in front of the class and direct a positive learning experience. Be brave and try new ideas in the classroom – more likely than not, your students will like it. If something doesn’t work, be honest with yourself and your students; admit that we are all fallible and tweak your next lesson plan for the better. A good leader is not afraid to fail.

What tips for classroom management do you have and where did you learn the skills of being a teacher?

Cell Phones and Other Distractions

As we work to put together a university policy on cell phone usage, I thought it might prove useful to discuss what teachers can do--policies and bans notwithstanding-- to lessen the kinds of distractions cell phones can create in our classes. 

Mary Ellen Weimer, in a Teaching Professor blog, describes an interesting way to make the learning environment a shared responsibility.  She suggests asking students (preferably in small groups) to make two lists.  The first identifies faculty behaviors that make it difficult for them to learn.  The second identifies what other students do that makes learning in the classroom difficult.  At the same time, the faculty member lists student behaviors that make his or her best instruction difficult to deliver. Lists are then compared and discussed. As Weimer points out, “An open, free-flowing discussion reinforces the importance of the issues raised and will likely be an eye-opening exercise for some. The beauty of the strategy is how it makes clear that what the class ends up being is the result of actions taken by the teacher and the students. What individuals do matters to the class as a whole, and the behaviors on the list are things students and the teacher can avoid doing.” 

Another way to address the problem is pointing out the negative results arising from multitasking. Would sharing information on research like the following with your students make a difference?

“. . . students who use their mobile phones during class lectures tend to write down less information, recall less information, and perform worse on a multiple-choice test than those students who abstain from using their mobile phones during class.”  Kuznekoff. J. H., & Titsworth, S. (2013). The impact of mobile phone usage on student learning. Communication Education, 62 (3), 233-252.

“…students who reported regular cell phone use in class showed an average negative grade difference of 0.36 ± 0.08 on a four-point scale.” Duncan, D., Hoekstra, A., & Wilcox, B. (2012). Digital devices, distraction, and student performance: Does in-class cell phone use reduce learning? Astronomy Education Review, 11, 010108-1, 10.3847/AER2012011.

“…other students are distracted when students text in class.” Tindell, D. & Bohlander, R. (2011). The use and abuse of cell phones and text messaging in the classroom: A survey of college students. College Teaching, 60, 1-9.

 What do you think? An thoughts and  tips to share on how you establish a productive, distraction-free learning culture in the classroom?