Learning from "No School"

This morning I woke to the news there is no school today. Initially, I wished that I had had this information before the students did, so I could have made changes on PantherNet before the students first viewed the subject sites. So, my initial goal was to get on PantherNet and make modification as soon as possible.

In my Environmental Systems and Societies class, I was giving a test on natural capital and demographic analysis. The test was already written, but how was I going to give the test to the students virtually? The objective of assessment is to determine what learning had occurred in the students. I wanted to assess individual student learning, but not allow them to use notes, books, or electronic resources and not allow them to get or give information from or to their classmates. This would be a good time to try out the running of a virtual school and use of an honor code at the same time. I provided the students with this message on the subject PantherNet site:

I hope your preparations and the help sessions have prepared you well for today's test. You will be taking the test away from school today, so you should plan your day accordingly, so the test can be completed and sent back before 2:00. (If you were not prepared for this test today--Expect to [and plan not to have anything conflict with] take it after school Monday [20 April] when we return from break. This is not the regular assessment; this will be a make-up. We will continue with the sustainability unit when we are back.)

When you are prepared with the following, email harveyh@isb.ac.th with the following information and he will send you the test.

When you are ready, send Mr. Hinsz an email with separate statements stating that:

a) you have access to a printer on which you can print a Word document which will be sent to you by email,

b) you will be in an environment in which you will not be disturbed (cell phone off, computer off, TV and other technologies off) by your friends, family, or other duties or expectations.

c) you have access to a camera or cell phone which you can use to email him pictures of your test when you have completed it.

d) you will not access your text, other people, or any resources during the time you are taking the test,

e) you will not discuss or communicate in any form anything about the test with anyone else until after 3:00 this afternoon,

f) you will not share your test or image of it with anyone, and

g) you are ready to receive the test by email, take the test in the hour, and photograph it and email the images to Mr. Hinsz in the 15 more minutes allowed, and abide by these rules.

Tell him you are ready to take the test and would like it to be sent to you. Mr. Hinsz is online and ready to receive your emails.

The statement for a) removed the possibility that students would have a time problem because of printing problems. I should have had the students ensure the printer could print the email I sent them before I sent them the test. One student took 30 minutes beyond the limit, because she could not print and had to copy all the questions by hand onto paper.

The statement for b) was clever, because students were focused and would not be tempted with calls, emails, or text-messages coming from others who might be colluding with them.

The statement for c) allowed me to document that no changes were made to the test after the students said they had finished it. This also allows me to have a digital copy if the student fails to bring me the original. The digital photo is also a time stamp of when the test was finished. If the test took particularly long, one might wonder if the student had used a lot of time searching for answers.

Having students individually write each statement made them cognizant and commit to an honor code. I was not so worried about their sticking to it; the test was not much different than the topics listed on my study guide.

Some things I learned:
School should inform the teachers before the students, so teachers can modify PantherNet before the students are on it. I can see a number of students accessed PantherNet well before I was even informed school was cancelled.

The electricity going out was not planned for. I let students know two scenarios: one with electricity out beyond 11:30 and one if electricity came back on by 11:30. Fortunately the electricity came back at 11:20, so they could take the test.

Some students used scanners, BlackBerrys, and cell phones to photograph their tests and send them in. None of these technologies were taught in my class; students had to get them on their own. Some students took some time to transfer cell phone images to an email account--they might more frequently be sending them to a social networking page.(My "Use of Cell Phones in Class" blog addresses other ways cell phones could effectively be used to promote student learning.)

The students who looked at their emails and looked at the PantherNet sites were often the best students. The worst students did not respond to the email and probably never saw them. They probably saw today as a day free from school expectations. With this experience, will those students learn it is wiser to look at PantherNet when school is closed? Should I have learned to not try to run a class when school is closed?

Some students needed more hand-holding and instruction and repeating of instructions that were already on PantherNet. I was reminded how some students have trouble with the clearest instructions. My having students write me with statements of what they understood was expected of them helped me know they crystalized the instructions before proceeding. It was important that I remained relatively consistently in email contact so students lost little time on task.

Of course, the next step is having the students get and submit the test from and to PantherNet. It's motivating that digital learning always has more ways to improve the way we communicate.

The school will be closed the next day, also. I am having my biology students review the flower diagrams on images.google.com to learn the names of the parts, then find an unlabeled diagram and determine the names of its parts. This will lead into a discussion about their functions when school resumes.

Thanks to Yochin for the Flickr image of the digital contents of a digital learner.