The overall goal of this inquiry project was to transform and amplify my students learning through the use of technology. In my school we have a laptop program wherein more than 60% of my students own their own computer. The other 40% have a laptop provided by the school for them to use. We have been very lucky in the last couple of years to have a 1-1 ratio for computer to student. This presents a unique situation when it comes to technology- how do you use it in ways that will amplify and/or transform the students learning.
Quite often the laptops are used in more of a replacement purpose. For example, instead of reading about a topic in the book- kids use the Internet to find the information through set assignments. This is the lowest level of technology use. I see the majority of teachers in my building using technology this way. I too often use it in this way because it is easier. However, with taking on this project I wanted to see how using the blog would change the learning of my students.
Now that the project is completed I have been sorting throug the tons of data I have collected. The ways that my student's learning was amplified- meaning, made deeper or made their learning faster, was in the following:
- students participated more
In post surveys 98% of students felt they particpated either the same or more and only 2% felt they participated less; the results were also similar in post interviews which were a little more open on responses so some answers could not be counted; 86% felt they participated more and only 14% the same which makes for a total of 100% participating the same or more and none claiming they particpated less by interview
Students felt they learned more- in interviews and surveys students commented about how their learning was different than in a normal class
- more learning from others occured because of the format of the blog
The ways that students' learning was transformed- meaning it changed completely, they were able to learn in a way different than before, was exhibited in the following ways:
Changing the comfort level students have in sharing with the class
- Surveys showed that prior to blogging only 35% of students felt comfortable sharing their answers all or most of the time where as through blogging 93% of students felt the same or more comfort sharing their thoughts with the class. HUGE improvment!
- The comments in interviews and in the written portion of the surveys also echoed these feelings
Feeling that the learning involved using the blog:
- was fun 19% of those interviewed and 74% in the post-survey
- allowed them to learn more from others 11% of interviewed and 70% of surveys
- allowed them to share more often 32% of interviews and 60% of surveys
Finally, the environment of the classroom was transformed as well. The classrooom truly became student centered. I was really just a facillitator. I would add things to think about in discussion and give them some basic direction each day but beyond that I was able to step back and allow them to learn from each other. It was amazing how the level of focus within the classroom changed!!! During blogging it was often very quiet because they were into what they were posting, or reading and commenting on other people's posts. Students also shared through their surveys and interviews that they felt better about contributing through the use of the blog than they did during a regular discussion. They also participated so much more with the blog!
This has truly been an eye opening experience for me. I love how my classroom changed and how so many of my students that usually don't have a voice in the everyday dicussions found their voice. It has brought up some other questions and ideas for how I can continue to use blogs in the future.
Sunday, April 6, 2008
Tuesday, April 1, 2008
Data and the Mulitmedia project
Wow! I have really started to get into my data and analyze some of the patterns. I have to say that at first I was a a bit overwhelmed but now that I have made some comparisons and filtered the data (go surveymonkey!) I am able to see the value of what we have been doing.
I truly feel that my goals have been met and the purpose that I wanted my blog to serve worked! YEAH!!!! The blog was an effective discussion tool because more than 80% in each class either contributed as much or more than required. The number of students that were able to "discuss" increased many times over because rather than having to raise your hand and wait to be called on, everyone could post their thoughts at the same time. In addition students expressed that they felt more comfortable sharing their thoughts online than by raising their hand. This opinion was also expressed by student after student in the interviews.
I have a lot to look at still but some main points are certainly coming out of this. Now what I need to decide is how to format my final presentation and I need to sort through the loads of video that I have to do two things: 1) search for relevant clips to show contrasts in the classroom and also clips to include in the video; 2) analyze the patterns of what was going on.
I truly feel that my goals have been met and the purpose that I wanted my blog to serve worked! YEAH!!!! The blog was an effective discussion tool because more than 80% in each class either contributed as much or more than required. The number of students that were able to "discuss" increased many times over because rather than having to raise your hand and wait to be called on, everyone could post their thoughts at the same time. In addition students expressed that they felt more comfortable sharing their thoughts online than by raising their hand. This opinion was also expressed by student after student in the interviews.
I have a lot to look at still but some main points are certainly coming out of this. Now what I need to decide is how to format my final presentation and I need to sort through the loads of video that I have to do two things: 1) search for relevant clips to show contrasts in the classroom and also clips to include in the video; 2) analyze the patterns of what was going on.
Sunday, March 16, 2008
Who is blogging?
One of the sub-questions that I wanted to investigate in this project was how my special learners in the classroom would be affected. I wanted to know if they would participate more through the use of the blog than they did in a regular class discussion. Also, if their comfortability with sharing their thoughts would increase through the use of the blogs.
Throughout the project I saw my special learners consistently being a part of the discussion. The majority of them submitted as many posts as the other students and often they were quite nicely done. Students that would previously shy away from raising their hand to share in class wrote their thoughts on the blog. Students that had been off-task in the classroom before during classroom discussions were no longer off-task. Rather, they were involved with the blog.
Even better I saw students that often struggled with writing during class do much better by posting on the blog. Although this was not true of all my special learners it was certainly true of most of them.
Another group of students who I really saw blossom through the use of the blogs are those in between students. The ones who don't qualify for special education, who are not receiving esl services, but yet who have issues of some kind or another. These are the students who lack the best home environments, who may goof off in class rather than paying attention because there is no follow through at home. These students by and large transformed into different learners. They became involved in their learning in the classroom through the use of the blog.
Also within these sub-populations I saw a lot of growth from the start of the project to the end. The posts went from being one sentence to being a paragraph. They took more interest in making sure they were submitting something that was quality work. Wow!
Throughout the project I saw my special learners consistently being a part of the discussion. The majority of them submitted as many posts as the other students and often they were quite nicely done. Students that would previously shy away from raising their hand to share in class wrote their thoughts on the blog. Students that had been off-task in the classroom before during classroom discussions were no longer off-task. Rather, they were involved with the blog.
Even better I saw students that often struggled with writing during class do much better by posting on the blog. Although this was not true of all my special learners it was certainly true of most of them.
Another group of students who I really saw blossom through the use of the blogs are those in between students. The ones who don't qualify for special education, who are not receiving esl services, but yet who have issues of some kind or another. These are the students who lack the best home environments, who may goof off in class rather than paying attention because there is no follow through at home. These students by and large transformed into different learners. They became involved in their learning in the classroom through the use of the blog.
Also within these sub-populations I saw a lot of growth from the start of the project to the end. The posts went from being one sentence to being a paragraph. They took more interest in making sure they were submitting something that was quality work. Wow!
Where did the time go?
Wow. I have been so busy blogging with my classes that I totally lost track of coming on here to update everyone! Things have been going great. The students quickly grasped how the site works for posting, commenting, editing posts, etc. After talking about what a quality post looked like and comparing it to the same writing rubric that we used during the writing portion of the project the classes had a much clearer picture of what was expected. Also, it really improved their writing.
We went onto learning how to post a picture and talked about what kinds of pictures should be posted. We focused on using pictures that supported your point of view or that strenghthened your argument. They really enjoyed being able to post pictures.
The debate about global warming continued to grow over the last two weeks. We looked at evidence from both sides of the argument. We talked about why you should look at many sources of data, not just one. I was really pleased to see that they were becoming much more critical in their thinking. They were searching for sources that supported their side of the argument, i.e. skeptic or believer. They posted graphs and links that showed data that was related.
The interest level continued to be really high. Every day that we spent blogging the classes were excited about it. They wanted to continue. When I told them last week that we would have to draw this project to an end soon they were incredibly disappointed. That is what prompted the discussion and posts about why we should continue blogging. This also gave me the idea to think about how we could continue to use the blogs in the regular classroom, outside the topic of global warming. I encouraged them to think about ideas too!
We went onto learning how to post a picture and talked about what kinds of pictures should be posted. We focused on using pictures that supported your point of view or that strenghthened your argument. They really enjoyed being able to post pictures.
The debate about global warming continued to grow over the last two weeks. We looked at evidence from both sides of the argument. We talked about why you should look at many sources of data, not just one. I was really pleased to see that they were becoming much more critical in their thinking. They were searching for sources that supported their side of the argument, i.e. skeptic or believer. They posted graphs and links that showed data that was related.
The interest level continued to be really high. Every day that we spent blogging the classes were excited about it. They wanted to continue. When I told them last week that we would have to draw this project to an end soon they were incredibly disappointed. That is what prompted the discussion and posts about why we should continue blogging. This also gave me the idea to think about how we could continue to use the blogs in the regular classroom, outside the topic of global warming. I encouraged them to think about ideas too!
Sunday, March 2, 2008
Reflecting on Blogging
We again spent the 28th blogging. I wanted to keep going while the interest was high. The first thing I did was showed them how to go back in and edit a previous post. We talked about the importance of categories and students went back to add categories to their posts. Then we looked at some more information about the greenhouse effect and global warming. It is really important for them to have a better understanding of the science behind it.
Once students had looked over the link below(which was in kid-friendly language)
http://www.eo.ucar.edu/kids/green/warming4.htm
they were to write one more post about their understanding of what the greenhouse effect is and how it relates to global warming. As of right now I am only part of the way through grading their posts. My first class is one of my classes with more of the special learners. Clearly they need more help with understanding the concept and more direction with writing their posts. In retrospect I think the next time we blog I will have to give them more detail on what their post should include.
I am really glad I had them write a post on blogging in general because much of what they said about it fit right in with my predictions of how they would feel. They liked that blogs allowed them to share their feelings. Also, that everyone could posts and share at the same time whereas in a normal class dicussion only a few people are able to share. Many also thought it was fun!
It will be interesting to see how the next week goes with blogging. They now have a pretty good understanding of how it works and what is expected. Now what we need to focus on is the debate about global warming!
Once students had looked over the link below(which was in kid-friendly language)
http://www.eo.ucar.edu/kids/green/warming4.htm
they were to write one more post about their understanding of what the greenhouse effect is and how it relates to global warming. As of right now I am only part of the way through grading their posts. My first class is one of my classes with more of the special learners. Clearly they need more help with understanding the concept and more direction with writing their posts. In retrospect I think the next time we blog I will have to give them more detail on what their post should include.
I am really glad I had them write a post on blogging in general because much of what they said about it fit right in with my predictions of how they would feel. They liked that blogs allowed them to share their feelings. Also, that everyone could posts and share at the same time whereas in a normal class dicussion only a few people are able to share. Many also thought it was fun!
It will be interesting to see how the next week goes with blogging. They now have a pretty good understanding of how it works and what is expected. Now what we need to focus on is the debate about global warming!
Wednesday, February 27, 2008
The buzz zzz...
We have finally lauched our blogs and the kids are really into it! I couldnt' believe the buzz in the classroom. They were so excited and really wanted to see what everyone else was doing. I had them learn how to post and comment by having them write about their favorite foods. This allowed them to just focus on the process. This way they wouldn't get too bogged down or overwhemed with also having to focus on the content about global warming.
Giving them the writing rubric and having them practice that more really helped to improve their responses. They are producing much better quality work now. Today when they did their first two "official" posts on the blog I reminded them about the rubric.
Monday was our first day where they learned how to post and practiced it. Then, yesterday I was out of the building for half of the day so they had to take a break from it as I didn't want to leave something so new with a substitute. So many kids asked about whether we would be blogging again today when they entered class. They were eager beavers!
I am really excited about how into this they are. I really think that by starting with something more conversational and easy for them it gave them a jumpstart. Today went very smoothly. They commented and posted about what their thoughts were about blogging- why is it good/bad? What makes this different than a usual class discussion? etc. After that the last task of the day was to revisit their positions on global warming and to write a post about that. The room fell under a dead silence as they focused in on their writing! Yippee!
I encouraged them to go onto the blogs tonight if they are able to and willing. Read what other people have written. Comment if you like. Maybe check out the other classes blogs.... Yet, I wanted to keep this optional so that if they do post and comment it is purely out of their interest and desire to do so. Wow! What a great start!
Giving them the writing rubric and having them practice that more really helped to improve their responses. They are producing much better quality work now. Today when they did their first two "official" posts on the blog I reminded them about the rubric.
Monday was our first day where they learned how to post and practiced it. Then, yesterday I was out of the building for half of the day so they had to take a break from it as I didn't want to leave something so new with a substitute. So many kids asked about whether we would be blogging again today when they entered class. They were eager beavers!
I am really excited about how into this they are. I really think that by starting with something more conversational and easy for them it gave them a jumpstart. Today went very smoothly. They commented and posted about what their thoughts were about blogging- why is it good/bad? What makes this different than a usual class discussion? etc. After that the last task of the day was to revisit their positions on global warming and to write a post about that. The room fell under a dead silence as they focused in on their writing! Yippee!
I encouraged them to go onto the blogs tonight if they are able to and willing. Read what other people have written. Comment if you like. Maybe check out the other classes blogs.... Yet, I wanted to keep this optional so that if they do post and comment it is purely out of their interest and desire to do so. Wow! What a great start!
Wednesday, February 20, 2008
Really getting into it
Over my break I read over the students' written responses. The first day responses were not very good. However, that was really only a brief introduction and the questions were not very in depth. Hence, the responses were not that great. After the second day when we learned more about the greenhouse effect and how it relates to global warming students started to gain a better understanding. In addition the questions on day 2 were more thought provoking. The responses were better but still not quite up to par as I would expect.
Upon thinking about this over break I decided that I should clarify what a good response would look like. What criteria would I grade it on. We settled on a 3 point rubric.
A 3 would be the best score where the entry covered all of the following elements:
- thoughtful and addressed the topic
- directly connected to ideas discussed or learned in class
- detailed explanation
- gave support or reasons why
A 2 would be given to a response where only 1 or 2 elements were missing and a 1 to those missing quite a bit or that were completely off-topic.
I decided to go back to one of the crucial topics related to global warming after explaining the rubric for how writing would be graded to students. The students were told they would have a chance to revisit what they had written to revise or add to it and improve their score.
After asking if this was helpful the majority of students said yes. This will allow us to move forward with quality responses to the questions being addressed. The same rubric will be used for grading the posts on the blog. Then, after the fact I can compare the results.
Finally, today the topic of blogs was introduced. We started by looking at several different examples and talkinga about what was there. Students are to look for one blog of their own interest tonight. Also, to list two do's about posting to blogs and two don'ts. We will use these ideas as a springboard for creating our "blogging bill of rights."
More to come soon!!!!
Upon thinking about this over break I decided that I should clarify what a good response would look like. What criteria would I grade it on. We settled on a 3 point rubric.
A 3 would be the best score where the entry covered all of the following elements:
- thoughtful and addressed the topic
- directly connected to ideas discussed or learned in class
- detailed explanation
- gave support or reasons why
A 2 would be given to a response where only 1 or 2 elements were missing and a 1 to those missing quite a bit or that were completely off-topic.
I decided to go back to one of the crucial topics related to global warming after explaining the rubric for how writing would be graded to students. The students were told they would have a chance to revisit what they had written to revise or add to it and improve their score.
After asking if this was helpful the majority of students said yes. This will allow us to move forward with quality responses to the questions being addressed. The same rubric will be used for grading the posts on the blog. Then, after the fact I can compare the results.
Finally, today the topic of blogs was introduced. We started by looking at several different examples and talkinga about what was there. Students are to look for one blog of their own interest tonight. Also, to list two do's about posting to blogs and two don'ts. We will use these ideas as a springboard for creating our "blogging bill of rights."
More to come soon!!!!
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