February 2018 – EdTech Awesomeness

Risk taking in education is nothing new. For centuries, teachers have been willing to push the envelope, leap over obstacles and climb any mountain in the name of reaching our learners and making school meaningful for all students. As educational technology has begun to change the landscape of our schools, some teachers have charged ahead and jumped in with both feet, but others are slowly testing the waters and learning how to work outside of their comfort zone. These teachers consider themselves to not be very techy and in many cases, would call themselves technophobes. These are the teachers I want to celebrate! They are taking risks, putting themselves out there, and doing things that scare them. And they are doing all of this because they want to engage and empower their students!

With this series, I am going to feature different Lebanon City School teachers that are working outside of their comfort zones and taking big risks for their students. First up, Roxana King:

Roxana King – Family and Consumer Science Teacher

Roxana, a long-time teacher at Lebanon High School, is one or two years away from retirement. Her course load this year is foods, careers and consumer economics. I especially love working with her on cooking days and have had more than my fair share of fudge when I go to visit her. Roxana first reached out to me because she wanted to get a better handle on managing her Google Drive, her email, and just general computer processes.

During one of our work sessions, Roxana began to talk about how she really wanted to find a better way to engage her learners. She was looking for digital opportunities that would get students to participate in their own learning and would allow them to show what they know throughout the learning experience, not just at the very end. Roxana also wanted her students to have access to course information from anywhere so that they could review concepts whenever they needed, not just during the time they were in the four walls of her classroom.

After looking at the many different edtech tools available, Roxana settled on Edpuzzle and Quizlet.

EdPuzzle:

When I worked with Roxana, she told me about video content that she shares with her students. This video content is really well done and has fantastic and applicable information, but she knows that when she shows the videos in class, the students tend to tune out and not really internalize or engage with the information. When she discovered Edpuzzle, she immediately felt that this tool could be a game changer for her. With a little bit of practice and a lot of patience, Roxana learned how to use the voice over and quiz features in the program. She now feels that her students are much more engaged with the content since they know that there will be checks for understanding scattered throughout the videos. The feature that allows students to rewatch video portions over again until they understand the concept is an especially powerful learning tool. In addition, students that were absent in class (or students that just need a little review) can access the videos from their personal devices at any time of the day or night.

Quizlet:

Roxana’s use of Quizlet is really exciting. Students are taking concepts covered in class and creating their own flashcards. Once they have created their own, they crowdsource them and share them with the entire class. As a group, they go over the flashcards and pick the ones that they feel best illustrates and defines the concept. Then, using the quiz and game features in Quizlet, the students play games and take quizzes over the concepts. Since the students have to create the flashcards and identify which cards best illustrate a concept, they are taking ownership of the material taught in class. It is no longer Roxana handing them the answers and hoping they take the time to learn it. They are engaging and creating, which is the fastest path to understanding.

I am so proud of the work that Roxana is doing and how she is pushing herself. When I say that Roxana is not a techy teacher, I am not exaggerating by any stretch of the imagination. It takes a lot of hard work and patience for her to figure out how to use these programs, but she is sticking with it because she wants ways to have her students engage more authentically with the material she is presenting in class. And for somebody who is nearing the end of their career to jump in with both feet and take these kinds of risks, I think she is amazing!

We have all probably experienced Google Forms in their most common, er, form. District admins love to use them for PD planning or information gathering. Teachers love to use them as quizzes, quick exit tickets, surveys or ways to get contact information from parents. Typically, the Forms you have interacted with before have been designed in a linear fashion where the user starts with the first question and works their way through until all questions have been answered and the submit button is the final option. Easy peasy, lemon squeezy.

But, what if I told you that every student does not have to answer every question you have in a Form? Would your mind be blown if I told you that you could customize your Form to guide students through an activity that levels itself for their specific skill level? Would you kick your heels in glee if I told you that you can create a Form that allows students to review important concepts if they get a question wrong? Or a Form that allows students to engage in challenge or enrichment activities while freeing you up to work with students that need more assistance? All of these things are possible with the magic of Google Forms. Read on to discover how you can use the magic of sections to create Forms of Awesomeness!

Case Study for Forms of Awesomeness:

The students have learned a new math skill and I want to be sure that they have ample opportunities to master the skill or try out the skill in new situations. To do this, I create a Form where the first question asks the students to reflect on their comfort level with the unit we just finished.

Based on how they answer the first question, they will be directed to a specific section of my Form.

Within each section, I build activities that have the students complete leveled practice or enrichment activities. Within these sections, the students will find videos, tutorials or other resources that will help them as they work through questions that, based on how they answer, will allow the student to move forward or repeat the learning activity until they are able to get the question right.

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While students are working independently, I can pull individuals or small groups of students that have either indicated they need help or are not making any progress on their section of the Form. If students have overestimated or underestimated their skill level, they can always start over by going back to the Form and selecting a different response to the first question. As they work, the Form is collecting data to show their progress and instead of standing in the front of the room, I now have the freedom to meet the students where they are as they work independently.

If my Google Fu is strong and I am so inclined, I can even set the sections to loop the student to the other sections I have created. If they cruise through one of the easier sections, I can have the student advance to a more complex section with a simple click of a button. Or, if they continue to get answers wrong, I can set the Form to have them wind up in the guided practice section. Sections allow for so many possibilities!

Building Your Magical Form of Awesomeness

To create a nonlinear Form, you will need to use the “Sections” feature. This feature is located on the quick menu the scrolls along the right side of the screen as you are building your Form.

Sections are essentially self-contained content and question sets. When I am creating a multi-section Form, I like to build each section as if it were going to be given to the students by itself. I find it easiest to build each of my sections first and then set up the navigation later once I have created the content I want my students to interact with. Here is a quick video that gives a basic overview of how working with sections in Forms works.

I used a math lesson and a funny little cheese activity for my Forms, but really, there are so many ways that you can use these with your students. Science lab activities, social studies lessons about government types, choose your own adventure style writing and reading activities. Can you think of ways that you would like to use the magic of Forms in your classroom?

Month: February 2018

Teacher Feature – Risk Takers – Roxana King