Smartboards and collaboration / communication

Several people mentioned that they got Smartboards or some type of interactive whiteboard in their classroom. These seem to be all the rage right now. I'm interested in how they are used for student collaboration and learning beyond just presenting information or short "quizzes" using some of the notebook features. I've been reading the research on IWB and Marzano's study (Teaching with Interactive Whiteboards, Educational Leadership; Nov2009, Vol. 67 Issue 3, p80-82, 3p) shows they have an impact on student achievement only if learner-response devices are used with them, graphics are used to represent information, or they are used to present information in an unusual context to reinforce learning.

Have you seen them used as tools for collaboration and communication?

Using Voice Thread

This week we shared some ideas using VoiceThread. I created a short video with some questions and people in the class responded either in text format or audio format. Here are some questions it raised for me. What do you think?

Did you prefer contributing by text or audio? (No one tried video contribution)

How would your students react to this way to share their ideas?

Does it encourage conversation or just serial posts? How could you use it to develop a dialog?

Is there a need to have someone go back and summarize the conversation at the end of the week?

Did you find it useful to have pictures of contributors?

What skills are you learning through your own online learning experience? What skills are important to focus on if we want students to guide their own learning and work online independently and collaboratively?

Problem Solving in Course

In this course, you will be immersed in a range of technologies. You may find that you are uncertain and uncomfortable because many of you are working with new technologies and skills that you have not used before. most of use are comfortable with email, word processing, creating presentations, and searching in Google, but this class will ask you to use some of the web 2.0 tools for collaboration and sharing knowledge creation. There may be some of you who call yourselves digital natives but most of us will be digital immigrants for whom these are new.

One of the skills you'll need to use in this class is problem solving and learning when and who to ask for help. Try out new things on your own first, but please feel free to ask your classmates, your students in school, your teenage children, others out there on the Internet and the instructor for help. Look at this as an adventure where you won't always feel in control.

You will also notice that this blog has been used in previous sections of this class, you reading back through old posts may be interesting for you.

Wisconsin Survey

This email recently came from John Pederson on the wetech listserv (Wisconsin technology coordinators). Think about the data he presents and what it means for schools.

"Julie Evans, CEO of Project Tomorrow, recently presented the keynote at our WiscNet Future Technologies Conference. In short, these folks do a ton of data collection about educational technology use in schools.

Julie presented two bits in particular that caught my eye.

1. When Wisconsin students were asked to describe their own level of proficiency with technology, only 21% self identified as being "advanced" in their technology use. I think we as adults often over estimate the abilities and attitudes regarding students and technology.

2. 28% of students Grades 3-5, 45% of students Grades 6-8, and 58% of students Grades 9-12 have their own laptop computers in Wisconsin. Chew on that a bit and consider what it tells you about how you should be thinking about your infrastructure over the next 5-10 years. Will you allow them? Should you provide them? Will this number increase as the costs drop or decrease as the number of mobile devices increases? What does this mean for your network? What are their parents expectations? Is it fair? Does being fair matter?"

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John Pederson
Educational Technology Liasion - WiscNet
johnpederson@wiscnet.net
http://wire.wiscnet.net

Twitter to Keep Parents Updated

I found this example last year of Twitter used in an elementary classroom. The kids share with their parents.

Engaging People via Twitter

Do you want more followers on Twitter? Do you want to engage in real conversations? Read Cindy King's 12 Tips to Engage People on Twitter.

Social Communication

Now that you have experienced Twitter, you may find it interesting to read Aliza Sherman's post, How Social Media is Affecting the Way We Speak and Write. Are we more concise? Do you use different spellings? Are we more revealing?