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[Forums Moderator]

Have you developed an innovative teaching technique? We'd like to hear about it. Please briefly describe your method here, and note the biggest benefit and biggest challenge you faced. Read more...

[Donna Qualters, Northeastern]

At Northeastern University's School of Education, we were faced with changing documentation by teacher candidates who now needed to provide discrete evidence of accomplishment of the Massachusetts State Standards.  In spite of the fact that students spent four years discussing theory, observing in the community, teaching and reflecting on their cooperative education placement, and other experiential teaching venues, students were still feeling insecure and unsure about what constituted evidence of mastery.

The teacher candidate seminar at this time was also being revised to create an environment that would function as a community of practice (Wenger, 1998).  The seminar was evolving into a reflective, peer community where instructors and students work together to discuss and improve teaching practice in our urban schools.

To address both these issues, myself and the Director of Field Placement, Micky Cokey, conceived and developed the Urban Teaching Connection website supported by funding from the Davis Educational Foundation.

The UTC website <www.utc.neu.edu> was designed to provide pre-service and beginning teachers with actual clips of exemplar urban teachers in their classrooms demonstrating the standards with commentary explaining how this clip demonstrated evidence.  The site also has a section where new teachers can go for discipline specific information from master teacher in our college of Arts and Sciences.  This section shares resources and  talks about the discipline specific pedagogical issues to further the discipline knowledge base of our students in a more integrated fashion.

Lastly, the site provides a forum for new teachers to share with each other and more experienced colleagues issues around teaching practice in urban schools.

The greatest benefit has been the marked improvement of peer to peer feedback after viewing and using the site as a model for their own microteaching exercises.  The students have also been better able to document and discuss evidence with their college supervisor and they feel more confident now in documenting their work during the student teaching experience.  We have also seen more deeper reflection and more depth in their journals during the teaching practicum.  

The biggest challenge has been to seamlessly incorporate the website into an already packed course and semester without it seeming like one more thing to do.  But as the instructors have become more proficient with the technology, and with feedback from students, we have been able to more effectively use the website to develop reflective teaching practice.  Our hope is that the UTC will provide an on-going place for beginning urban teachers to examine their practice, get support from a community of teachers, and stay as teachers in our urban classrooms.

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[Sarah L. Sterling, Portland St]

Hi - I have been teaching online for the past year.  As many of you know, maintaining a lively interactive environment in an online class is tricky.  

I have given my students the option of creating Powerpoint presentations for online viewing.  I turn them into PDF files (or the other students can download them) and post them in a presentation gallery.  The other students are read them and post comments to the discussion board.

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[Alan D. Earhart]

In his column titled "Professors, Stop Your Microchips" dated 6/24/05, Patrick Allitt uses extreme examples to show how technology can be used poorly in the classroom. I'll offer an opposing viewpoint.

I suggest that instructors use PowerPoint presentations with the chalkboard/whiteboard as a backup. I've found that electronic presentations can be extremely helpful to the instructor since they force the instructor to be better organized with the material. Well, they do when done well. This organization can then benefit the student.

I teach Chemistry and I prepare my slides as if I were working on the chalkboard. I only put what's necessary on each slide and then build the material up as I reveal and discuss more of the topic. Problems that involve dimensional analysis are prepared as if I was using the board. OK, this does make the creation of presentations time-consuming for me but the results are worth the effort.

I usually know the areas which students find confusing and I often anticipate questions. When a student asks "what about yyy?", it's often the next topic in my presentation. If a student asks a question and I didn't anticipate it, so what? I hit the AV mute button on the projector and go to the board!

I feel the biggest mistake people make with electronic presentations is to forget what they learned from traditional chalkboard/whiteboard classes. I still act as if I'm working on the board. But, now I get to add audio and visual materials that were previously more difficult to insert into my lecture in order to help students understand the material better.

Simply reading prepared slides one-after-another? Yuck. Don't do it. Would you want to sit in a class and have that done to you? So why would you do it to someone else?

Passing out files of the actual presentations in ppt or pdf format? I do not in order to encourage the students to attend. The presentation is pretty useless without my discussion. Naturally, this wouldn't apply if my classes were online and I would structure things accordingly. I am experimenting with notes that have portions of slides on them and students can write in things that are missing and use them to make their in-class notes. Pen-and-paper, however.

Center of attention? It's still me. That hasn't changed.

I believe that hardliners, all or none when it comes to technology, are missing the point. The use of PowerPoint is just another tool and, if used well, can be pwerful. Don't shun it because you've been given examples of how one should NOT use it in the classroom.

After reading my post, I have to chuckle. My "tech-teaching tip" is to not forget the methods you've both seen and used in "traditional" classrooms when you use electronic presentations.

[Ricky Cox, Murray State Univ.]

Over the past year, several faculty members in the College of Science, Engineering and Technology at Murray State University have redesigned several courses using tablet PC technology.  Our tablets were obtained through a Hewlett-Packard Technology for Teaching Grant.  It has only been a year, but the tablets have allowed us to fundamentally change the way we teach and interact with students.  The words and voices of our students have been quite loud and provide a clear and convincing argument for the ability of tablet PC technology to improve both the process and product of the lecture and student learning.

The article (Mark Essays Electronically:  A Professor Uses Tablet PCs in a Composition Course) concerning Professor William Bernhardt’s use of a tablet PC in his writing class is one of many pedagogical advantages offered with the tablet.  Our approach to using tablets has been somewhat diverse among chemistry, engineering, mathematics and statistics courses.  For example, we use the tablet during class as a digital whiteboard and never have to turn our backs to the students to write on the chalkboard.  In addition, mobile technologies have also changed classroom dynamics within our lecture halls.  When a tablet is combined with a wireless projector, the instructor is not tethered to the front of the class and can explore all regions of a large lecture hall while writing notes and interacting with students.  Since digital ink is used, all notes during a lecture can be archived and placed on the web.  In many disciplines, the inability of students to take accurate and detailed notes leads to poor and inaccurate retention of material.   Many faculty members in our group have also starting utilizing tablet-enabled virtual office hours.  For example, a few nights before a test or quiz, faculty members will make themselves available for an hour or two at night to interact with students who have joined our virtual classroom session in Blackboard, the online course management system at Murray State.  There is a whiteboard in which to write equations and draw diagrams and molecular systems.  Without the inking option available with a tablet, these virtual office hours would not be practical as drawing molecules or diagrams with a mouse is not particularly easy or useful.  Some of the more quiet students in the lecture hall come alive in these virtual sessions and it is very much like talking with students in my office at school.  

Reading the commentary by Professor Patrick Allitt (Professors, Stop Your Microchips) in this issue was quite frustrating.  He has put forth some negative statements about the role of technology in teaching.  It seems that he has drawn his conclusions from a very limited data set (one course observation and a conference).  As a biochemist, I learned many years ago (usually from peer reviewers) that it is quite dangerous to draw meaningful conclusions from limited data.  Indeed, the survey data from 354 students at Murray State, along with other measures of learning gains, indicate a positive and constructive role for technology in the classroom.  There are many devoted faculty members across the world trying to improve teaching and learning due to a number of factors such as larger class sizes and a more educationally diverse student population.  I am sure that many of these pro-technology faculty members will agree it is much easier to stick with the chalk-and-talk approach compared with trying innovative approaches to enhance student learning.  In other words, faculty members have to make a dedicated effort to design teaching/learning experiences that will meet the needs of changing student populations and shifting educational paradigms.  Indeed, showing up for class with old yellow notes will not make me, my Dean, or my students happy.

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[Roxanne Eubank, Saint Mary's U]

Our University’s students are primarily working adults.  We meet one night a week for 5 hours. Using technology has become an important tool for assisting students to think critically about the course material.

I always publish power point presentations on Blackboard prior to class meetings. I have not experienced a decline in student attendance due to this practice. Students are expected to review the slides prior to each class meeting.  Most students print the presentations and use them for note taking during the class. I’ve found that this allows me to cover much more material.  The students come to class with questions and insights that they wouldn’t have had if they only saw the slide during the few minutes it was on the screen.  I find the level of critical thinking demonstrated in class has increased dramatically due to this practice.  However, for this to be successful, the presentations must be designed with this purpose in mind.  I have found that inserting slides with questions for discussion helps my students begin the critical thinking process prior to the class meeting.  Once in class, students are prepared to discuss theories and concepts at a much greater depth.

I have also found that graded bulletin board discussion of course content is an effective way to further enhance student learning.  In some courses, I require students to contribute a minimum of five posts during the week. However, most students contribute many more than the required five.  The on-line dialog is designed to extend the in class discussion and be a comprehensive analysis, synthesis and evaluation of the course content.  Each week I post several questions for reflection.  Students may respond directly to my questions, or to the posts of other students. Not only do students enjoy the continued discussion out side of class, on a couple of occasions, the discussion threads continued long after the course was over.

When students are required to work on group projects, many use the chat room function.  This allows me to “listen in” in real time or via the archived discussions and provide guidance when necessary. Students have found the chat room convenient and my occasional participation helpful.

The use of technology has definitely improved student learning.  The level of critical thinking and long term retention or course content has increased dramatically.

[Kathleen Plinske]

As more and more millennial students enter our classrooms, customized learning experiences and instantaneous individualized feedback have become an expectation.  Our students on a daily basis customize content on Internet portals, choose unique ring tones for their cell phones, and even create custom ice cream flavors.  Is it any wonder why they don’t think they’re asking too much by requesting feedback instantly or expecting a classroom experience customized to their preferred learning style?

At McHenry County College in Crystal Lake, Illinois, instructors are using wireless handheld response device technology to provide students with instant individualized feedback to promote student engagement.  This technology, called iRespond (http://www.revealtechnologies.com), consists of a handheld computer for each student with response buttons that communicates via radio frequency with an instructor base station.  This technology differs from other "remote clicker" systems in that the handheld computers include a 3" LCD screen that provides individualized feedback to each student after an answer is submitted in addition to a summary of classroom responses.  As with other clicker systems, students may also view aggregate data on a classroom projector screen, but the "in-hand" customized response truly engages students.

Instructors have the option to send individual questions to students that require an immediate response as well as the capability to send a set of 10-15 questions at once that a student can answer at his/her own pace.  Students receive individual feedback on their LCD screen that indicates if their response to each question was correct, as well as information about their classmates’ responses.  Furthermore, students see the total number of questions they answered correctly and incorrectly at the end of a quiz.  They have access to individualized feedback instantly at their fingertips.

I have used this technology in my introductory Spanish courses for two semesters, and I've personally found the technology to work at its best when I don't count student responses for credit.  I believe that giving points for the handheld quizzes emphasizes the wrong message.  The importance of grades is already underscored so often for students that it's refreshing to engage students in an activity where nothing more than their learning counts.  At first I was concerned that students wouldn't take the handheld quizzes seriously if they didn't count for points, but if you walk into my classroom when the students are using the handhelds, they are so engaged that you would think they were taking a final exam.  It is also interesting to watch how students' natural preferred learning styles emerge in this sort of environment.  I tend to have a group of students who are naturally competitive who try to race and compare scores, I have other students who are very interpersonal and like to compare their answers before submission, and I have others who exhibit more intrapersonal tendencies who prefer to work alone.  Why not let them learn in the way that feels the most comfortable for them without the pressure of worrying about their grade?

Often I'll give students a handheld quiz at the beginning of class, we'll spend the class time working with the material, and at the end of the three-hour class I'll give them the exact same quiz, and they truly celebrate their improvement.  They can immediately see how much they've improved individually as well as collectively as a class.  It provides data that helps them confirm that yes, they did learn something, and that coming to class is worth their time.  It also confirms for me that what we're doing in class is effective.

Another technology that I have used to increase student engagement and provide customized feedback is self-grading worksheets that are created by embedding Javascript into PDF documents.  These worksheets work well with exercises that require a fill-in-the-blank or multiple-choice response.  When students enter a correct answer into the worksheet, the response turns yellow; when an incorrect response is entered, it turns red.  Students are required to complete these worksheets online before taking an exam, and they immediately receive feedback as to whether their answers are correct or incorrect. This is helpful for instructors because it frees up time to spend with assignments that require feedback from a live instructor, and students enjoy it because don’t have to wait for their assignment to be graded.  They come to class confident that on those particular assignments their answers are correct and it prevents them from repeating an error so frequently that they learn a bad habit.  If students make a mistake, they are redirected before the error becomes embedded.  An example of an interactive worksheet can be found at: http://www.mchenry.edu/faculty/kplinske/worksheets/doubleobject.pdf

Imagine your students visiting an Internet site and being asked to customize content based on their favorite sports teams.  After entering the requested information, is there any doubt that those students would quickly lose interest if they were asked to wait several days before being able to view their favorite teams’ scores?  Similarly, is it any wonder why our students lose interest in one-size-fits-all classes where they are often asked to wait a week or more for feedback? Students thrive in a classroom environment where they take part in shaping the learning experience and receive instantaneous feedback, and technology can help us to create such an environment.  In the end-of-semester evaluations from my class in the spring (the first semester in which I used both technologies), eleven of the sixteen students who responded mentioned handheld wireless response technology and/or interactive worksheets as one of the things they liked the best in the class or would have liked to have done more.  These activities indeed appear to keep them engaged, and as one student commented: it was "hard not to participate."  I intend to examine these effects further in future course evaluations, and in the meantime I am excited about the possibilities that technology offers to increase student engagement and improve student learning.

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[Gay Olsen, VCU SOM]

The Department of Family Medicine at VCU is developing and field testing an electronic education data system using a Personal Digital Assistant (PDA) to track medical students' patient encounters from remote clinical sites during their third-year clerkship. Students enter patient encounter data into their PDAs and then hot synch daily. The data are directed to a database on a predetermined faculty's computer on campus through an AvantGo channel. The students' clinical experiences are assessed by the distant central faulty for gaps or disparities in diagnosis, patient demographics and level of participation. Recommendations for adjustments to the clerkship are emailed to the students and the preceptors at the midpoint of the clerkship.

This system is designed to replace the paper patient logs that have been used in the SOM for decades. The plausibility of this system being useful in other clerkship has yet to be determined.  

The data from this system has potential for several areas of research.

[Nicolas Rouse, Phoenix College]

I am new to the arena of teaching technology; however, I feel that I can provide some tips for teaching technology at the level of higher education.

In the classroom I teach, there is a large, 6-foot media cart for presentations with a mouse that is attached to the port on the back of the computer.  To remedy this (if anyone is in the same situation), I purchased a wireless presentation mouse that allows me to move around the classroom and interact with the students.  This provides much flexibility.

I also suggest using a scanner to keep copies of homework, quiz, or exam that is graded.  I scan every single homework assignment, quiz, and exam that my students turn in, and create PDF files.  I am able to print out the files in the event the student needs to verify that he or she handed something in. In addition to this, I created an electronic gradebook in Excel that links the grades to the PDF files, so that I can click on a grade for a student, and the PDF file appears.  I store all of these files on a portable notebook hard drive that plugs in to any computer on the campus.  It is very handy!

The biggest challenge to the above tip is that you will need time to scan the assignments.  I usually spend a couple hours doing this; however, I feel if I had a sheet feeder on the scanner, I could do it all in one PDF file and break out the pages for each individual student, thus saving much time.

Another suggestion is that when discussing a chapter in the textbook, I always provide articles on current examples of the material.  The students discuss the articles with themselves, and also report out on them.

When teaching about the interior components of a computer, I brought in a computer so that the students could learn and understand what the various components are.  It was a hit with them, and I felt better showing them visual examples.

When preparing the students for an exam, I give them all a group of possible questions and answers and let them provide the answers to the questions, so that they all have a week to study the possible questions on the test...The exam review sessions have been applauded by the students.

That is all I have for now.  I plan on providing more hands-on activities for the students, as yes, it is possible for activities to be provided on any technology topic.

[Alem Tebeje, Saint Mary's U.MN]

I am student at Saint Mary’s University of Minnesota. I like traditional face-to-face classes, but many of us like alternative learning methods, traditional face-to-face with web-based learning methods. I value more the traditional face-to-face instruction with Web-enhanced class setup, it convenient to have life discussion in the classroom. I feel much closer to the traditional face-to-face learning style.

Technology offers these opportunities to improve teaching strategies, to be create a blended teaching practice, but I had a negative experience taking classes strictly online. I took a class, but I did not like the way some of the responses I was receiving, no one can respond online or return your phone calls; I will never take another class strictly online.

Technology proves the learning environmental preferences and it is best methods to have technology aided teaching method. As most of us chose to attend traditional school in order to have face-to-face interaction with instructors and students. Combination of traditional face-to-face and web-based integrated classes will accommodate new teaching environment.

I realize that different scholars approach our academic fields differently. I do understand that the learning styles are different from individual to individuals, we learn and process information in different ways, how ever  both intrinsic and extrinsic learning give us the motivation to study (work) better and they are very important for someone wants to challenge, develop his/her learning skills.

Educators and instructors need to facilitate teaching methods that address multiple learning opportunities. I agree with Prof. Roxanne Eubank in her teaching practice, publishing power point presentations on Blackboard. The majority of class have been satisfied her knowledge the way her classes conducted. I view teaching is regarded as an individual practice. We have always very helpful discussion, and satisfied with result of discussion. She put her ideas into practice, considering web aided classes in teaching practice will maximize learning opportunities. But I do not support to have courses strictly online.

Traditional face-to-face classes far better than strictly online classes, but with the combination of web-aided teaching a method provides very helpful environment and opportunity to learn from others. Blackboard is designed to facilitate convenience for the students, before class as well as web-based discussion. I can mention a number of reasons why blackboard is important, we can use Blackboard to check our grades, take a test, download and print, submit an assignment, and to engage in class forum discussion. In conclusion, I believe that the technology for blended teaching helps higher education much more successful than the totally online.

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[Eileen Robinson - PBCC]

Enjoyed this article very much, particularly the information about the self-grading worksheets that are created by embedding Javascript into PDF documents.  When I went to the McHenry College web site the document was not available.  Is there another URL that I might view this type of document?

Thank you.

[Darren Ashby]

Being dissapointed in the typical basic skill I saw in engineers applying for a job, I acutally wrote a whole book on Electrical Engieneering basics for not only theory, but common sense, torublshooting, using tools and how to communicate as well.

It is called "Electrical Engineering 101", and it can be found all major outlets such as amazon and the like.

Darren Ashby

[Jonathan Waage - Brown Univ.]

Just a follow-up on Alan Earhart's note on combining PowerPoint and chalkboard/whiteboard while lecturing. I completely agree that one should avoid the isolation from one's class that can result from only using PowerPoint or slides for lecture. There is actually a fairly simple way to combine the benefits of PowerPoint and a blackboard into one. At least on an Apple computer, one can simply plug in an inexpensive (< $100) Wacom Tablet and write on top of a projected PowerPoint slide. That allows you to add to or highlight material on a slide and to insert blank slides on which you can write or draw as you would on a blackboard.

Material that is written on a projected slide disappears when moving to the next slide. I actually find it a benefit since it encourages students to take notes even if they have printed out the PDF file of my PowerPoint lecture (which I provide the night before each lecture).

Ironically, this use of a Wacom Tablet and PowerPoint does not work for Apple's own Keynote presentation software.

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