On October 12, I asked three of my colleagues to conference with me and provide feedback on my ImagineIT project. Kathy G. is our science teacher, Mary M. is our reading teacher, and Sue S. is our tech coordinator. I explained my project and its goal, which is to increase student in engagement in math by incorporating technology into the classroom. I shared with them what I was trying to do already -- having students make videos, and struggling to incorporate Google apps for education given our iPad situation (no Chromebooks). I also shared with them my initial plan to conduct a flipped classroom, which at this point I had already considered not doing based on feedback from my advisor, Missy. I began the conversation there, and they immediately gave me a few things to think about. One, is how would a flipped classroom work for special ed students? This was something I had only considered a little bit. Yes, the ability to view videos multiple times could be beneficial, but if that is the only strategy for differentiation, then the flipped classroom seemed to have limited benefits. Also, they asked me how I would have time to make all of these videos, and, admittedly, I had wondered the same thing. I was also concerned about how much time outside of class would go into making the videos, and then wasn’t sure exactly what we would be doing in class. My teammates mentioned the long blocks of time that we have with students, and their suggestion was to abandon the flipped classroom idea for now, and instead to find ways to incorporate tech into the 90 minutes that I see the kids.
For this reason, my colleagues were very receptive to the idea of having students make videos that demonstrate their learning. They thought the students would definitely be engaged in the video-making process, but wondered how much class time would be devoted to making the videos, as well as how students would learn to make them. Would students be partnered or in small groups, and if so, did they get to choose those groups or would I select them? And what about students that were always struggling to understand the concepts -- would there ever be time for those students to make videos? They also pushed me on how I would assess the videos, and suggested that I make a rubric that would be applicable to all of the videos that they make over the course of the year. They also thought it would be beneficial to make part of it a process grade, not just a grade for the finished product. The big thing they made me think about too is where the students would be making the videos -- would they be completed at school or at home, or both?
As far as incorporating Google classroom goes, one of my colleagues, Mary already uses it in her literacy classes, and shared that it is a great tool for having online discussions. Everyone can participate, and it allows for multiple discussions at once so that all students have a more active role in sharing their ideas. However, when I asked Mary how I might use it in math class, she didn’t really have a great idea. Kathy was less familiar with Google classroom, and asked if may we already have things in place that work just as well as Google classroom, and was there a point to using this tool if we already had other systems in place. It was a valid point, that made me wonder if I should just narrow my focus to math instructional videos.
On October 19th, I held a small focus group with five of my students to get their feedback on how the project is going. They were most interested in making videos, and expressed a desire to work on them in class every day, which I explained was not necessarily going to happen. They also wanted to be able to use their phones in class, which I also said would not be happening. However, they gave me some more helpful feedback, including some pros and cons for two apps that we tried out that day.
For the focus groups, we primarily focused on different recording techniques, and different apps to use. I had only 30 minutes to talk to them, so I was only able to get them to try one video in two different apps.
Doceri, an online whiteboard app.
PROS: students like the ease of use, the editing features, including the ability to erase mistakes, the recording features which allowed them to pause their recording and continue
CONS: You cannot rewind the recording; the student cannot appear in the video, just their voice;
The stylus pens aren’t great at capturing details, and take practice to write neatly with; The microphone tends to capture a lot of outside noise(will be challenging to make a polished video with a classroom of students all talking at once…)
Raw video from iPad Camera
Pros: Students can appear in video; use of classroom whiteboard makes it easier/neater to write problem out.
Cons: person filming the video has to narrate; you cannot pause the video; no way to edit out mistakes(maybe iMovie?)
In conclusion, both meetings gave me things to think about, and implement moving forward!
For this reason, my colleagues were very receptive to the idea of having students make videos that demonstrate their learning. They thought the students would definitely be engaged in the video-making process, but wondered how much class time would be devoted to making the videos, as well as how students would learn to make them. Would students be partnered or in small groups, and if so, did they get to choose those groups or would I select them? And what about students that were always struggling to understand the concepts -- would there ever be time for those students to make videos? They also pushed me on how I would assess the videos, and suggested that I make a rubric that would be applicable to all of the videos that they make over the course of the year. They also thought it would be beneficial to make part of it a process grade, not just a grade for the finished product. The big thing they made me think about too is where the students would be making the videos -- would they be completed at school or at home, or both?
As far as incorporating Google classroom goes, one of my colleagues, Mary already uses it in her literacy classes, and shared that it is a great tool for having online discussions. Everyone can participate, and it allows for multiple discussions at once so that all students have a more active role in sharing their ideas. However, when I asked Mary how I might use it in math class, she didn’t really have a great idea. Kathy was less familiar with Google classroom, and asked if may we already have things in place that work just as well as Google classroom, and was there a point to using this tool if we already had other systems in place. It was a valid point, that made me wonder if I should just narrow my focus to math instructional videos.
On October 19th, I held a small focus group with five of my students to get their feedback on how the project is going. They were most interested in making videos, and expressed a desire to work on them in class every day, which I explained was not necessarily going to happen. They also wanted to be able to use their phones in class, which I also said would not be happening. However, they gave me some more helpful feedback, including some pros and cons for two apps that we tried out that day.
For the focus groups, we primarily focused on different recording techniques, and different apps to use. I had only 30 minutes to talk to them, so I was only able to get them to try one video in two different apps.
Doceri, an online whiteboard app.
PROS: students like the ease of use, the editing features, including the ability to erase mistakes, the recording features which allowed them to pause their recording and continue
CONS: You cannot rewind the recording; the student cannot appear in the video, just their voice;
The stylus pens aren’t great at capturing details, and take practice to write neatly with; The microphone tends to capture a lot of outside noise(will be challenging to make a polished video with a classroom of students all talking at once…)
Raw video from iPad Camera
Pros: Students can appear in video; use of classroom whiteboard makes it easier/neater to write problem out.
Cons: person filming the video has to narrate; you cannot pause the video; no way to edit out mistakes(maybe iMovie?)
In conclusion, both meetings gave me things to think about, and implement moving forward!
