How Technology Found its Way into My Classroom

Technology for Technology’s Sake?

As Jane Ryland, President Emerita, CAUSE, Boulder, CO, says, “technology should not drive the strategic direction for any college. Rather, technology should be assessed with regard to its potential for helping achieve a college’s strategic goals.” (Ryland, 2017).  In other words, educators should look to the available technology to facilitate and become part of their learning activities.  That being said, sometimes we have no real choice.  For example, my college, Delaware Tech, uses the Blackboard Learning Management System (Blackboard) as our equivalent of a virtual learning environment.  I have spent the last five years getting used to its little quirks and now the talk is that we’re going to replace it with a shiny new, as yet unnamed, modern system.  The learning curve stretches upwards again for me and my students.

Most schools and colleges have built-in systems that we don’t even notice until they stop working or are replaced.  This type of technology is almost invisible and is taken for granted by frequent users.  I am certainly guilty of assuming that my students were born knowing how to use Blackboard, a mistake I don’t intend to make as I introduce new technologies into my lessons – virtual or otherwise.

What Does this Button Do?

All of my classes involve Blackboard to some extent.  I use it to store my course materials, policies, schedules, web links, and many other educational artifacts.  Most of my quizzes and other assessments are hosted on Pearson’s Mastering Anatomy and Physiology website – another virtual classroom used by all our BIO 120 and BIO 121 Anatomy and Physiology courses.  While 95% of my students are technology enabled, the remaining 5% are not and are in real need of a software upgrade!  Although the number of students who are technology novices is dwindling, those who lack technology skills are at a significant disadvantage when they are first exposed to online systems like Blackboard. Fear of breaking the system because of an incorrect keystroke still exists in some students.  Fortunately, Delaware Tech is set up to help technology novices with various beginners’ courses and help centers.  I also encourage my students to find study buddies and exchange contact details with fellow students, plus I’m always there to help.

Blackboard is the first technology the students meet at the start of a course.  Usually, the first thing that they see is the standard Blackboard interface – Blackboard Blue and Bland could be its name. The rather unexciting default look for Blackboard can be replaced by one of a collection of only slightly more exciting looks plus teacher –made banner images and icons.  Blackboard can be tailored and personalized to fit the subject matter and the class requirements.  Revamping the look of Blackboard is the first thing I do when I create a class.  Obviously, the students take it for granted, but I really enjoy making the graphics.  I think the students feel more at home and have more of a feeling of ownership of their course if their virtual classroom is designed to fit them and their course. This ownership facilitates the introduction of active learning practices by the teacher (Ryland, 2017).

The Changing Face of Teaching

(Economics Teacher. 2009)

Obviously, the image of the teacher image of the teacher standing at the front of the class, laser pointer in hand, ready to spout forth about the content of his latest PowerPoint – I’m blushing with guilt!  This is an image that I intend to modify.  I say modify because I think that old-fashioned teaching still has its place as a valuable pedagogical strategy (Moore, 2007) - an educational tool, not the only tool.

I think that many great teachers fear that they will lose some of their identity and self-esteem if they let technology take over (Moore, 2007).  However, if given a chance, the introduction of technology-based active and group learning activities can help educators realize that such activities have a genuine educational value that will actually bolster their self-esteem (Moore, 2007).

Technology: A Personal Progress Report

When I started at Delaware Tech I decided to follow the technology yellow brick road, albeit in a careful baby steps sort of way.  The first thing I did was to see what courses Delaware Tech had to offer – plenty was the answer. Delaware Tech has a Center for Creative and Instructional Technology (CCIT) and it offers a Certificate in Instructional Design and Technology upon completion of a 15 credit course (Instructional Technology, 2017).  A salary lane-change goes along with the certificate – obviously, this was of no interest to me!  Here is a list of the courses that I have completed or am about to complete:

•          Teaching with Technology
•          Foundational Technologies
•          Advanced Classroom Technology
•          ePortfolio Design
•          Designing a Flipped Classroom

These courses involve us working in teams to research new teaching technologies, learn their educational applications, and assess their strengths and weaknesses.  The whole process has been a great example of how to incorporate technology into the classroom.  Completing these courses has helped me to develop my skills and confidence when producing technology-rich activities for my classes.  Likewise, many of the activities on this and other units on this course have helped in the same way.  I now have a working vision as to how to include technology-based and group activities into my classes.

Be Careful Out There

One of the first active learning group games I introduced is called Anatomy Buzz Groups involving groups researching and reporting (teaching) about topics such as bones of the body.  Although this wasn’t strictly technology-based, the students were encouraged to use the internet for research purposes.  I am still developing my skills but I now include a Quizlet (Quizlet.com) area for each unit of my anatomy and physiology courses.  These study areas are aimed at bolstering my students’ skills when they are studying for their summative unit exams.  I use Quizlet because it can generate several assessment activities based on existing information in the system or on information added by the instructor.  Analytics are provided to help build a picture of individual students’ levels of success.  Quizlet provides instant feedback to the students and the games/assessments can be repeated as needed.  With each repetition, students build on their knowledge and understanding of the course materials that form the knowledge base for the Quizlet questions. 

I also use EDpuzzle (edpuzzle.com) an app that allows instructors to repurpose any video to include prompts and questions based on the content.   Student answers are graded by the system with analytics and feedback being made available to the instructor.  I like this form of assessment because it is fun for the student and because of the 24/7 feedback that is available to the instructor.  

As both the Quizlet and EDpuzzle activities are created by the instructor, students have ample opportunities to work together on content that is tailored to their course and its specific requirements.  Both EDPuzzle and Quizlet are also ideal for formative assessments and flipped classroom activities.

Ethical Dilemmas

I have a few reservations regarding the ethical use of both of these tools.  With Quizlet, it is easy to search for and use Quizlet sets that have been created by others.  However, it doesn’t seem possible to credit the people who produced the work in the first place.  With EDpuzzle, YouTube videos are used as the primary video source for the repurposing.  Again, there doesn’t seem to be a simple method of crediting the producers of the work.  I’m not even sure if the producers have to be credited, hence my ethical dilemma.

I mentioned technology overload in my first blog and the same thing applies here, along with technology fatigue.  The best advice I had about introducing technology-based activities such as flipping the classroom was to flip a class and not a course.  For one thing, I simply do not have the time to develop new materials an entire course. But, if I did have the time, I wouldn’t do it because it could cause my students to develop technology fatigue as the new becomes old and boring.  Also, I suspect that courses would take twice as long to complete.  

How do I know that this Thing Actually Works?

The introduction of new technology-based activities should be part of a review process to monitor their success.  Success should be measured using the following criteria (amongst others):

• Student feedback: Do the students think that they have benefitted and/or enjoyed the experience?
• Student assessment: Do these activities lead to a better understanding of the topic in question?  Formative assessments will help here.
• Application feedback: Can you, as a teacher, access your student’s usage records?
• How much does it cost to use the app and can teachers get a discount or is it possible for a school to pay for a site license?
• Does it fit the schedule: How long will it take to access and use these activities?
• Ease of preparation: Does it take a lot of time to prepare in return for little benefit?
• Software support: Is the software or website still supported, in other words, will it be there next week when you want to use it?

We should also evaluate our reasons for integrating specific technology-based activities. The educator Jeff Utecht developed the method of evaluation (Utecht, 2008) including the following questions:

• Is the technology being used “Just because it’s there”?
• Is the technology allowing the teacher/students to do Old things in Old ways?
• Is the technology allowing the teacher/students to do Old things in New ways?
• Is the technology creating new and different learning experiences for the students?

We should be aiming to give our students transformative experiences, but sometimes a change is as good as a rest.

Where to Now?

Keeping up with new developments is my main aim for the next year or two.  It’s a daunting undertaking looking for the good stuff and rejecting the bad.  I just hope that I don’t miss a gem, but you’ll let me know – won’t you?

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