Final project reflections

For my final project I wanted to do something that was directly related to helping student learning. I made a wiki site that allowed them access to class information via the Internet, but that was done with the skills from the first course. I had heard of Goggle forms and wondered if I could use that program to effectively check student learning during class time.

The concept I wanted was a little advanced from the “clicker” technology talked about at the EARCOS conference (and reviewed here at ISB in 2005). That technology allows the teacher to see students’ selections of four multiple choices; basically an immediate assessment of students using a multiple choice question format. But I wanted a avenue to assess students with a variety of questions and not be limited to multiple choice, which could leave me believing a student understood a concept if they guessed the right choice.

Google forms allows such a technology. Multiple choice (even the option of “Other” with a more extensive answer), long answers, and surveys are all possible.

My first attempt was to have students select a choice of the direction they would like the course to proceed: review, hydrosphere, discuss IB Exam formats for a mock exam…. By having the students log onto the form site, students were forced to make a decision of their own before being swayed by the most verbal or dominant individuals in the class. The results were encouraging because the quiet student expressed an opinion that was different from the rest of the class. So the schedule was made with her opinions included.

My second attempt was to use the form to assess student understanding of information we had just covered in the class. Some questions were short answer fill-in-the-blank and some were multiple choice. The class has a number of ESL (English as a Second Language) students who are very quiet, so it is difficult to just their understanding during class discussions.

This form had the advantage of requiring every student to commit to an answer, even if they did not understand the concept. In one of the classes, it was obvious that all students understood two of the concepts completely, so we didn’t review those topics any more. In another class the answers showed misconceptions in definitions, mix-ups in terms, but no students who completely “didn’t get it”.

This form of assessment has the potential of being used for a paperless test. If one can get graphs and images to the students and the test can have all answers in the form of multiple choice, short answer essay, and fill-in-the-blank, those questions could be completed by students using the form application.

Two problems exist with the form application for now. It is free and public, so any questions posted on it are available for all to see. So once a test is given, students would be able to find those questions and pass the URL on to other classes who have not taken the test yet. This can be alleviated by giving another test to another class or posting the questions just before the test is given.

Google uses the host country location to determine the default language for the buttons and tool bars within the site. I have not been able to get around this setting, so students have to be instructed to click on the two-character Thai button at the bottom of the site when they are done with the page.

Having a template, questions can be uploaded quickly, the site can generate accurate information quickly, the teacher can learn of common misconceptions and help the entire class or learn of individual needs and address them with individual students or small groups. Best of all, when students understand a concept, the teacher can move on to the next topic. If the students already understand a unit (or part of it) before the teacher begins it, the teacher can move on to extension material, quicker assessment, or the next unit.

Success--mass collaboration?

During this second COETAIL course, I expanded my research of blogs and the Internet for my hobby of family history as I discussed in a previous blog. Via a blog posting I just "met" another researcher who just came back from my mother's lineage's ancestral home village in the 1600s. The researcher had discovered a missing link in our lineage and I was able to learn about it from the other side of the globe by just writing like I am doing now. A few people working together on a common project like a genealogy search could be considered mass collaboration. A useful produce is produced by many that would be unlikely done by a few.

Are we preparing students for a future of mass collaboration?

No, the school focusses students on achieving locally and individually (often in preparation for an IB curriculum) and in small groups. For schook, students go to their classes, then their activities, then gather in groups or individually and do their homework. This part of their lives is not an example of mass collaboration.

What goes on outside of school and may matter more in their lives, what challenges them and motivates them, is often related to the digital world. Students are on their cell phones as soon as they are out of class. They are combatting in the World of Warcraft before they think about homework, and they are deciphering their class notes and teacher expectations by cell phone when they do get down to homework. But these are not preparing them for mass collaboration.

As I see it, mass collaboration involves the responsible contribution to the growth of a societal system. The development of edible grains from wild grasses to the formation of a CreativeCommons concept would be included in mass collaborative efforts. I fear (probably not unlike my parents when I was in high school) the youth are learning how to collaborate as users, rather than creaters, of products.

But maybe the World of Warcraft is giving these youth not only the exposure to working in teams toward a common goal, but the strategies to effectively size up team members' collaborative skills, trustworthiness, and responsible behaviors in real life simulations. Students learn from mistakes they make on their profile or sharing with "friends" on Facebook. Students communicate with efficiency when they text message. The digital contacts they make worldwide by blogging, tweeting, and sharing of music and images gives them contacts that may be the most important individuals in their future university success, job placement, or mate selection. We cannot know which of these actions today will lead to having an advantage in tomorrow's society. These skills my give students an advantage, but no matter what, "we" are not preparing the students for this future by what we do in our classes.

But are we preparing them for mass collaboration by raising them in the Eastern culture instead of the West? Whereas, the West is know for its focus on the individual, the East is known for its community orientation.