Tech Talk: Using Technology to Engage Students as Partners in Learning
Hey GTCers!
Recently the GTC held a lively
discussion facilitated by Matt Dumlao on how online interactions can be used to promote a student-centered
approach to teaching. Throughout this
quarter we are focusing on how we, as instructors, can get students more involved
in the learning process, and technology can be used to achieve those goals.
Direct from Matt, here’s a summary of what we talked
about:
What are different types of online interactions?
We began our discussion by listing
ways students can interact with each other online. Students can lead discussions and Q & A
sessions in chat rooms (ex. the SmartSite chat room for the course). They can share and edit files using Google
Docs. For example, potential test
questions or study guides provided by the instructor could be tackled by a
group of students using Google Docs.
Google Docs could also facilitate peer review of student papers. In addition, students could make videos or
podcasts or summarize content in Wikipedia-like entries, all of which can be both
a formative assessment and a way to get students involved in creating
content. Students can also interact via
Skype, Adobe connect, Facebook, Twitter, and good ol’ fashioned email.
All of these interactions can be
described as synchronous or asynchronous -- i.e., do students interact in real
time, or is there a delay -- and each
type has different pros and cons.
Synchronous interactions might give students a more personal feel and
allow them to tap into nonverbal and contextual cues to help move a discussion
forward. Asynchronous interactions may
not have any nonverbal or contextual cues for the students to pick up, but the
time delay does allow students to craft a well-written response.
What are the functions and goals of online interactions?
We continued our discussion by
brainstorming reasons why one would want to incorporate online interactions in
a course. We all agreed that online
forums can provide a place for discussion outside of the classroom. Discussions started during class or office
hours can continue online and new topics that may not be addressed during class
can be raised. In many ways, these
interactions can mimic what students do in study groups: they work through
concepts together, teach each other, and help each other prepare for
exams. In general, these interactions can
extend the learning period beyond the hours spent in class and provide more
opportunities to learn the material.
In addition to helping students
master the material, we identified several important goals regarding student
motivation. Research has shown that the
more ways students are engaged with the material, the more time and effort they
will want to put into learning it and the more positive their overall
experience will be. Online interactions
can be a valuable tool to achieve these goals.
For example, in the online discussions described above, the students
become the teachers, which can give them a sense of ownership over the learning
process. That is also true for
assignments like podcasts or YouTube videos, which has the added benefit of involving
them in creating content. Also, online
interactions can open up avenues of participation for students who may not want
to speak up during class.
It was also mentioned that incorporating
online interactions into the course can be a way to teach media literacy. Students are often assumed to be “tech
savvy”, but that is not always a safe assumption, especially when it comes to
finding reliable academic resources online and accessing journal articles.
We also spent a little time
discussing how to grade online interactions.
Our ideas ranged from minor participation points to a significant
percentage of the course grade. It all
depends on what the goals of the interaction are. Do you simply want students to discuss topics
in online chat rooms? You might offer
them participation points and not grade the content of their comments. If students are asked to create content (podcasts,
wiki-posts, etc) that may be used to teach the rest of the class, then the
assignment should be equivalent to a term paper or an exam in terms of the
level of scrutiny the teacher gives it and the amount of points it is worth.
We ended this segment of our
discussion by reiterating that any use of technology must be purposeful and the
goals should be clearly defined.
What is the role of teachers in student-led online interactions?
Just as with in-class interactions,
teachers must play several roles to ensure that the interactions are
productive. Broadly speaking, the responsibilities of the teacher can be
divided into three categories: organizational, social, and intellectual. From an organizational perspective, the
teacher must act as a moderator, setting the agenda for the discussion,
outlining the ground rules for all participants, describing expectations, and
making sure the discussions remain on task.
The social role involves making sure all participants feel included and
comfortable. Finally, the teacher must
also act in an intellectual capacity by asking questions, synthesizing
discussion points, and steering conversations in the right direction. All of these roles can be transferred to
students. To do so, the teacher must
first model appropriate behavior and then allow students to take over. As teachers take a back seat, they should still
monitor the discussions to make sure everything is going smoothly.
We also brought up the case of what
to do with ESL students. ESL students
often feel self conscious of their communication skills and they may not feel
confortable writing in English in a chat room for all to see. To get around this, someone mentioned Piazza
(https://piazza.com), a tool that make posts
anonymous to other students, but the instructor can still see who wrote the
posts.
Some tools for teachers
We wrapped up our discussion by
mentioning several web tools that can be used to implement online
interactions. The chat room feature on
SmartSite was mentioned as a commonly used tool in a variety of courses on
campus. Google Docs and other aspects of
Google Drive have also been used to share and edit files (e.g., study guides). Diipo and Edmodo can be used for social
networking in educational settings, although they have been designed for K-12
classrooms and their usefulness may be limited.
Finally, last year during the TA
Consultant workshop series sponsored by the Center for Excellence in Teaching
and Learning, Nicholas Hall, Robert Lynch and Philip Matern presented an
excellent summary of teaching technologies, including tools that can help with
podcasting, file sharing, and real-time video/audio streaming. Check it out. It’s awesome.
For more information on this topic, please feel free to get in touch with Matt directly. The handout he provided (see below) may also provide some handy insights as you work on integrating tech into a students-as-partners classroom.
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