Another aspect of the lab I really liked was the Classroom 2.0 site. I think I could get some really good ideas there and plan to follow the groups and posts on that site. I posted a comment on the board of the Classroom 2.0 site.
Additionally, I created a Poll Everywhere poll. I had never used this tool before, but I think that I will certainly do so when I get back in the classroom. Right now all my classes are online, so I don't have the opportunity to engage with students face to face. I think that I can use this tool often in the real classroom. We have conversations in every class where we touch on sensitive topics and I think this tool will certainly help to get the class warmed up and engaged in discussing the types of topics that society often tells people not to talk about in public. One of the two biggies, namely religion, is what we talk about in my classes everyday. Since I don't have a class right now, I created a poll that I could give to my son, who is nine, and some of his "colleagues". His school does not use much technology in the classroom, much to my chagrin. If I could just get through to the administration and teachers that our children are falling behind by not using technology in their classrooms, I would be a much happier parent.
In previous years, I have used technology in the classroom, with little support from the Dean of my department, as well as other instructors. However, I wasn't deterred. I had students create digital stories as a Final Exam project as an alternative to a traditional research paper. In this project, students utilized their own flip cameras, or their own cell phone cameras to capture original video and incorporate that into their stories. Additionally, they had to use some type of movie making software, like "iMovie" to produce the film. These stories also had to be narrated, so they also used tools, such as Audacity to narrate over their moving and still pictures.
I have also encouraged the use of cell phones and other devices in class, especially in group work. On days before a big unit test, I would hold "study sessions" where students would be grouped together to work on writing essay type responses to questions that could appear on the test. In these groups, they were researching the questions and then relating the information to the rest of the class. The groups were encouraged to use their mobile devices as a source for research. Then they had to record their findings in the LMS via those mobile devices so that all the groups could use all the research to help in studying for the test. The class really loved this activity.
Additionally, at any given point during class, I would ask students to google something, like a picture or a particular type of website that could then be shared with the rest of the class. I would either plug their device into the big screen projector, or just have the student relate what was found for the class. I found that the students liked engaging in research right then and there to answer a question or provide an image that would help the class understand a concept. Sometimes they would ask if they could do this for the benefit of the group. I would come prepared with such things for class, but hope that they asked questions beyond the material I provided. Students tend to ask really crazy questions about religion...they want to know the really weird stuff.
Even though I am not in a real classroom now, I want to start a Twitter feed in my online classes that will serve as a reactionary platform to add a different dimension to our class. I feel that there are many more learning opportunities out in the world that teachers aren't tapping into. How often I have heard students say that they wished I was with them at some point outside of class because this really interesting "thing" happened at some point relating to our course material. This really bugs me because they are experiencing something that causes them to think of the class and the class material. Why can't we tap into those moments? I think those are the real learning/teaching moments. Those are the moments when students are teaching themselves at that point because they are applying the knowledge learned in class. I want to have a Twitter feed going in which my students and I can tweet about "things" that happen related to class. It might be a thought, a conversation had with a friend, a picture they take of a religious symbol, a website they stumble across, a place they visit. These are moments in which one can react to something relating to world religions. I hoping that this will provide a way for all of us to be enriched by someone else's learning moments.
The challenges I see are really related to getting this Twitter feed up and running. It isn't hard to start a Twitter feed, bit being that my classes are online, I will need to incorporate all this information into the LMS, which I really don't care for, but that is perhaps a whole other blog post...LOL! And, I will have to send out email messages giving information on the project as well. Another challenge is the grading of such an activity, which may be a logistical issue since the Twitter feed lies outside the LMS. And, being that the Twitter feed won't be linked within the LMS itself, I feel like this makes the class a bit disjointed. The Twitter assignment doesn't have to be perfect the first time around and I have to be willing to experiment to see how it goes. I will work around these challenges because the idea of capturing learning as it is taking place out there in the world is really exciting, and inspirational, to me.
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