Student feedback for quality teaching

David Warlick of the blog 2 cents worth posted a very interesting thought a few weeks ago.

Disruption, or Demand to learn.

As teachers we are always using classroom management to battle the disruptions of life. The major ones at the moment being mobile phones and MP3 players, I tend not to think of iPods as a big problem if managed well. In fact, I've often found that students listening to music tend to be more on task, not to mention that you can use them as a teacher tool, it's only when you need to talk to the class as a whole that it can be a problem.

Mobile phones on the other hand can be a serious problem. Most especially when it comes to bullying, but even as something that can effect the efficient running of a lesson. There's nothing like a mobile ringing to throw you off your teaching flow.

David in his blog entry talked about how often the mobile phones are being use to complain about the quality of conferences, and I don't dispute that this kind of feedback is useful, I think it's a great thing if quality is raised because of the demand caused by feedback. At the convention he was attending, this is exactly what was happening, people were complaining about the quality of the lecturer via SMS messages. He was explaining that this was a new way for feedback to received.

I am skeptical however that this is indeed what is happening in high school classrooms. It seems to me that it's highly unlikely that teenagers are spending the majority of time in class texting about how good or bad the lesson is, rather than gossiping about Tina's new boyfriend who she's just going out with to prove she's over Geoff.

Perhaps what we should be taking out of this lesson is not that mobile phones are okay to use in the classroom (and of course they are for educational purposes), but that we need to get more feedback from our students to improve out teaching strategies, that self reflection and peer reflection are not enough. We need to take the time to hear our students and how they enjoy learning so then learning is more meaningful and we're more likely to create lifelong learners.

David Warlick's blog: http://davidwarlick.com/2cents/

Photo from: www.apple.com/education

Get Active with Education QLD 2008 Year of Physical Activity and Nike + iPod

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Reach me to Teach me

When do we learn best? It's always when we are personally involved in the subject matter. When my cousin was diagnosed with Leukemia I learnt far more about the disease than I ever did in my biology classes. I have a fascination with science fiction, so I often find learning about science interesting, it captures my attention and imagination.

Obviously this is a dilemma in the classroom, we just can't reach all our students on this level, they're not all personally interested in every topic.

So how do we engage them on this level given this obstacle?

How about involving them personally in the project of learning?

Perhaps Young Jenny doesn't care much about how to calculate the hypotenuse of a triangle, but she probably likes making movies, so how about Jenny and 2 of her friends making a movie to show not only how to calculate this (a meaningful learning experience), but also the application of this formula in real life? To give this project more meaning, make sure that it's going to be posted on the internet, or used in other classes, students love teaching each other.

Reaching our students can be one of the hardest parts of teaching, but if we want to ensure that learning is meaningful and successful it is vital.

Thank you to Doug Spicher for the inspiration for this blog entry.

Melanie.

Managing your networking online.

We all need to network, it's how we manage learning online, especially if blogging (or bleading = blog reading) is one of our major means of continuing our education and connecting to other educators of value.

However all this networking can begin to dominate our lives and a management strategy is necessary to keep us going or risk loosing interest or even the drive to update ourselves.

If you're like me you enjoy keeping on top of things, which means I like to check all the blogs and websites I value everyday, but this is not possible in reality, and it's beginning to take over my life. So I've had to find ways to manage this. Here are some helpful hints that might help you do the same.

1. Set a limit of how many bloggers you can subscribe to. It maybe 10, 20 or 30, you need to decide for yourself. This number of course may change over time, but setting a reasonable limit makes your bleading more manageable.

2. Think about your frequency of reading. Some blog sites, like this one are not update as regularly as others, or equally as important, they may not be of as much value. So assign blogs days, or even of regular contact. Put in on my bookmark folder those blogs you check daily and another that you check weekly, then pick a day a week for some serious bleading.

3. Take a break, don't do this everyday, you need to get yourself centered and fresh from time to time, make it happen and turn the computer off.

4. Using RSS can really be of benefit, by seeing the titles of blog entries can help you to know if an entry is something that really interests you. And even if you open it, but then find from scanning that it's not of value, move on. You are not required to read and respond to each and every entry.

5. There are times when your focus will be on different areas, increasing your networking time as you learn about a new topic . Don't be afraid to drop your favourite spots during this time, they'll be there when you get back and it'll help you maintain your sanity.

6. Be aware that your network is larger than you realise. The blogger you're reading got their information from somewhere else and they're now passing it on to you, it's a big web out there and it's all connected. So don't feel limited by what you're doing, realise how much your engaging by spending sometime connecting.

Case in point, I just read a blog entry by David Warlick who I've mentioned before in the blog about this very topic and agreed with it so thoroughly that I wanted to pass it on, and so the web of networking continues.

Melanie.

10 ways to make your iPod a better teaching gadget

Open culture list 10 ways to make better use of your iPod in education.  The list includes the following topics and then some! - Wikipedia on your iPod, loading you tube videos,  making videos iPod-ready, converting MP3 files into one audio book, ebooks for iPod, maps and language study. 

Unleash the potential of mobile devices in education! 

2cents Worth

A very informative and tech-savvy blog for you all the check out is 2cents Worth and well worth checking out for every teacher. (I personally have it RSS) David Warlick who manages the blog not only gives great advice and links about ICT in education. He is inspiring about education and the way we approach it. Take a quote he put in today's blog entry.

"I’ve heard this one before, but it was shared again by Will Wright, creator of The SIMS, and I wrote it down word by word.

There was a professor who went into a kindergarten class one day and asked students to raise their hands if they could dance. Of course they all raised their hands. Draw? Sing? Again, they all raised their hands.

Then he went into a college class and asked the same questions of students there, and of course, no one raised their hands.

He concluded that education is the process of teaching us what we can’t do."

His personal commentary on PL as well as his outlook on education makes this a very practical blog to read, with ideas that you can incorporate into your own philosophy of teaching.

You can find his blog at http://davidwarlick.com/2cents/ and we have his blog listed in our links for your easy access anytime.

Melanie.

Meet Liz

Hi everyone - welcome to our blog! Last year we developed a wiki that housed links, news and info about what we were getting up to.  We've decided to build on this - hence developing this blog. With this blog comes a  commitment to posting regularly about all things relating to the world of teaching with technology. (So make sure you check back regularly or RSS us!). 

I'd like to officially welcome Mel to our team! It has been great working with her for the last couple of months! 

For those of you who I haven't met - I'm Liz - the professional learning facilitator in Brisbane. In this role, I actively assist teachers to understand the educational objectives of Information Communication and Technologies.

I graduated from the Queensland University of Technology with a dual degree - Bachelor of Creative Industries (Visual Art) Bachelor of Education (Secondary) with my second teaching area as English - and a few years ago never would have imagined being in this position. I have an invested interest in various creative projects including film, animation and interactive arts and through these passions I have developed a strong understanding of modern digital processes.    

I believe that education is shaped around the fundamental values of freedom and respect and encourages students to constantly search for truth and technology allows students to achieve this.

I love to talk and share my passions with whom I meet. 

Contact me on: (07) 3914 5343 or email: lperry@mac1.com.au

Look out for future posts. 
-Liz :)