EDU352, Journal - Gathering Assessment Data

As a teacher’s assistant in a classroom of students on the autism spectrum, one of my responsibilities is collecting data to pass along to my lead teacher. Recently, I’ve begun to gather data on a student to asses her grasp of prepositional phrases and spatial concepts.The decision in question is whether to include these concepts within her speech goals when her IEP is updated this fall. The data that I have gathered thus far is her accuracy in identifying spatial concepts in relation to a picture, when choosing from a field of four (under, above, in, beside). The data was gathered using an existing independent work task in a file folder, on which she matches words to pictures.

Examples of Prepositions
from http://pearlsofprofundity.wordpress.com/2013/11/18/
the-difference-between-a-preposition-and-a-participle/

Moving forward, we will need additional data to determine whether to include this goal, and in what manner. For example, during teacher table activities, we should practice asking her to identify spatial concepts both receptively (“show me x”) and expressively (“what’s this?”), in multiple modalities including matching words to pictures, using manipulatives, and moving her body to follow single-step directions.

Technology can support gathering this data by providing tasks for her to complete. For expressive identification of these spatial concepts, the iPad application “Preposition Builder” is available. It is easy to use and understand, contains nine modules with three concepts each, and the drag-and-drop feature encourages the development of fine motor skills—which this specific student can benefit from. Further, the application offers

iPad Screenshots from the Preposition Builder app

“statistics to track individual student progress,” according to the developer Mobile Education Store. For receptive identification, a SMART Board presentation can be developed that requires the student to move an object in a new direction for each slide (ex. “put the bird IN the birdhouse”, “put the bird UNDER the birdhouse”). The presentation can be printed with her responses to use as data, and then reset for future use. The same presentation, or a variant of, can also be used for other students that need to practice the same spatial concepts.

EDU352, Journal - Technology Integration Matrix

At the stage of Authentic Transformation in the Technology Integration Matrix, “Students explore and extend the use of technology tools to participate in projects and higher order learning activities that have meaning outside of school”. This use of technology is perhaps one of the most important and influential for students. As teachers, we often hear, “that’s great, but how am I going to use this, ever, in my life?” Providing students with the opportunity to take the lesson and extend it outside the classroom, to discover that relevant connection for themselves, is empowering and engaging—and appropriate use of technology can help accomplish that goal.

As a younger college student, this use of technology is what helped to keep me engaged in my statistics course. Inputting formulas in Microsoft Excel and making graphs and charts really held no interest for me, despite my aptitude for it. Midway through the course, however, we were given an assignment to build a graph with data we found on the internet. That was it.

All deaf patients should be provided with an interpreter when receiving
medical services. The discovery of this story fueled my statistics assignment,
and my interest in the field.
Photo credit: http://signlanguageco.com/temp/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/Medical-f.jpg

Around that time, a story had been published in a local newspaper about a Deaf woman that had a medication mix up because the hospital failed to provide her with an interpreter, and her seven-year-old hearing daughter was relied upon to communicate between her mother and the hospital staff.  The hospital claimed that they were understaffed, and simply had no interpreter to provide.

Using this newspaper article to fuel my assignment, I gathered data on the interpreter-to-deaf ratio in the state, as well as interpreter programs that lead to licensure in the state, and created a series of charts and graphs to illustrate the need for more Sign Language interpreter programs in colleges in Iowa, to produce more interpreters. I had never been more engaged in statistics before then, and my interest has remained in the years since, extending into my career in the education field (interpreting statistics provided by state and local education agencies, and the option of gathering, interpreting, and presenting data to the school board should I ever need to make a point).

This experience has also informed my views on what great teaching looks like. I think that every student should be given the opportunity to extend their thinking beyond the classroom in practical and passionate ways. As a teacher, this level of technology integration is what I would ultimately hope to achieve (assuming I’m teaching in a typical ed classroom). In the description of the environment of a Transformation Level  classroom, the Florida Center for Instructional Technology says it “includes technology tools and online resources that allow for student engagement with the local or global communities”.

One example that I have always used in ideas for lesson plans involving technology is the opportunity to use Skype, or a similar videoconferencing tool, to connect with national or international peers—taking pen pals to a whole new level.

Students use videoconferencing technology to have a conversation
with NASA's Mission Control.
Photo credit: http://www.mdjonline.com/view/full_story/21359679/article-Far-out
-%E2%80%94-Elementary-students-video-conference-with-NASA

It could be used for students at any grade level: a younger elementary class reading the book “Flat Stanley” could mail their Stanley to a cooperating class in another city, state, or country; upper elementary or middle school students could discuss differences in culture and language (in a class setting, or more one-on-one like instant messaging); high school students could collaborate on specific projects with local or international peers, like discussing thoughts on foreign policy in a government or business class. The goal is to get students—or at least, their minds and their work—outside of the classroom. As a student, it is sometimes difficult to gain perspective on how a lesson affects the outside world without being given the opportunity to apply the lesson in a controlled setting.  One of our jobs as teachers should be to make the effort to give students these opportunities, providing for them interaction with and access to the wider world outside of the classroom, so that they will have the tools and skills to make an impact on the world.

EDU352, Technology Use in Classrooms

“It is widely agreed that the most effective forms of ICT to use with deaf children are highly visual rather than reliant on the written word or sound”

(Richards, 2004)

This was my focus in searching for technologies. Highly visual, highly accessible technologies are my main interest. Many technologies, despite their diverse range of capabilities, are heavily text-based. This assumes that the students receiving the information understand written English with academic fluency—which isn’t always the case. For students who are Deaf, on the autism spectrum, or learning English as a second language, this is not the most effective method of presentation. For students who are Deaf or on the spectrum, their first language is highly visually-based^*. For typical students learning English as a second language, presenting information as highly visually-based with text support could aid them in written language acquisition. For the purposes of this assignment, my process began with focusing on educational technologies to be used for and by Deaf students, although the technologies I discovered could be adapted to meet the needs of others, as well.

Gallaudet University is renowned as THE university for deaf/hard-of-hearing students in the United States. Their technology services department provides a list of resources used throughout their school, including blackboard-type services, web conferencing tools, and their YouTube channel. Two of these stood out: Echo 360 Lecture Capture, and myThread (hosted by VoiceThread).

Echo360

Gallaudet uses Echo360 Lecture Capture, in order to video-record lectures for students to access later—presumably due to the fact that it’s very difficult to attend to a lecture presented in ASL and take notes simultaneously, given the necessity of eye contact on the presenter. However, the Echo360 tool is much more diverse than just a recording system. Take a look at the video on this page showing Dr. Melissa Gross of University of Michigan using Echo360 Active Learning Platform in her anatomy class. (Scroll down a bit, under the title “Hear From Our Customers”—she’s on the left. I couldn’t manage to link directly to the video).

Dr. Gross controls the main presentation (top)
A student takes notes on her personal copy of the day's lecture  (bottom)

As you can see in the video, students use their own hardware (laptop computers and iPads with stylus pens) to participate in the lesson, as does the instructor (iPad to conduct the lesson, projector to display it). The technology integration here is effective for a number of reasons. The variety of interactive features allows students to participate and engage with the material in new ways, addressing the need for reaching diverse learning styles. These features include multiple choice response and free response opportunities, image interactions, a note taking option, and the ability for the students to save the presentation on their own device. The use of the free response, according to Dr. Gross, allows students to use their creative mind, addressing one of the NETS-T standards.

Standard 1a: Promote, support, and model creative and innovative thinking and inventiveness

The free response tool promotes creative thinking and inventiveness, in this lesson, by allowing students to “make up anatomical names” of muscles they are just learning, which allows Dr. Gross to peek into their thought process regarding what they understand about the lesson thus far.

The use of Echo360 software also addresses standard 2b, providing a technology-enriched learning environment that encourages students to become active participants in their own learning. In this lecture hall, it’s clear that students are immersed in the technology, keeping them engaged with the material—they’re taking notes, answering questions, annotating images. Unless the camera work is really that perfect, it doesn’t appear that a single student is off task. Students can also assess their own progress by taking note of the multiple choice and free response questions they get wrong during lecture, to better understand where their misunderstandings lie before moving on.

Standard 2b: Develop technology-enriched learning environments that enable all students to pursue their individual curiosities and become active participants in setting their own educational goals, managing their own learning, and assessing their own progress

Students respond to a multiple choice question on their devices,
and the total results are displayed in the presentation

It is clear in Dr. Gross’ classroom that the technology supports the learning, and not the other way around. Echo360 makes anatomy accessible for a large group of students, by providing a highly visual platform with interactive capabilities with which students can truly engage with the material. The software allows them to “engage with the material, right now: ‘What do you think about this?’ They’re active with the material—they find out what they know, and what they don’t know” (Gross). From there, when their answers are displayed on screen, they can discuss as a class the right and wrong answers, and how they can improve their understanding. The technology gives them a deep connection to the material in this way, and directs classroom conversations towards the material, rather than away from it, allowing class time to be much more productive than before.

VoiceThread

VoiceThread is a presentation software in which presentations are created, stored, and shared on the web— not unlike Prezi. However, VoiceThread carries a few distinct advantages: creators can add text, voiceover, or video commentary, to which commenters can respond in kind. Take a look at the video ASL Handshapes here. (Again, couldn’t link directly to the video). In the first slide, the professor provides instructions to her students: “You will see several pictures of ASL handshapes…. Please add your sign (for each?) handshape. For example: handshape ‘1’ (index finger), the sign for ‘think’.” Then, she provides an example of a comment (at left) using the comment feature. In subsequent slides, the students respond to the prompt for each handshape provided.

Assessments like this are fantastic examples of effective technology integration. Since ASL is a visual language, video is the most appropriate means of technological communication, and thereby, assessment. The complete presentation is a collaborative effort between the instructor, who provided the foundation, and the students, who provided examples in the comments. The work being available online enhances integration, as well: students can view one another’s responses, an excellent opportunity to learn from one another; and their work is now available for others to build upon (for example, my using the presentation as an example of effective technology use in education).

Again, the technology here supports the learning, rather than using technology for technology’s sake. It allows students the chance to respond to the prompt thoughtfully, rather than rushing through an example in class while under pressure to perform well. What’s more, these students are likely hearing students in an ASL language or interpreting class—using a webcam to communicate their thoughts in the language is an important cultural perspective to gain, and cultural understanding is a foundation of any ASL class. The Deaf use video-based technologies to communicate in a variety of settings: video relay services for important telephone calls, iPhone FaceTime for closer friends and family, and videoconferencing for work purposes are among the most common examples. Using and becoming comfortable with this technology is necessary for prospective interpreters (and anyone that wants to gain cultural perspective), and the opportunity to do so is a great benefit of using VoiceThread.

The use of this technology for an assessment also addresses the NETS-T standards. Based on other available presentations provided by this instructor, this particular approach to assessment appears to be a unique exploration into the technology, making clear that her assessments must be varied (standard 2d). This form of assessment isn’t a standard go-to item for her: rather, it appears as though it was intended to be a step into new technological territory, for both her and her students. Providing multiple, varied assessments using technology allows students to sample new tools, and explore concepts in different ways—rather than taking drill-based exams at every turn. This seems to have been an effective and interesting assessment opportunity, which I hope she and others will continue.

Standard 2d: Provide students with multiple and varied formative and summative assessments aligned with content and technology standards, and use resulting data to inform learning and teaching

Also based on presentations by the same instructor, it is clear that she is achieving standard 5c, reflecting on current research… to make effective use of existing and emerging digital tools. Her other two VoiceThread presentations are entitled, “The Effectiveness of SMART Technologies in Deaf Education,” and “Technology in the ASL/English Bilingual Classroom”. As an instructor at Gallaudet, these are highly relevant topics to her students’ learning.

Standard 5c: Evaluate and reflect on current research and professional practice on a regular basis to make effective use of existing and emerging digital tools and resources in support of student learning

Accessibility in education is incredibly important, whether students are Deaf, on the spectrum, learning English, or have any of a number of diverse learning needs. Whatever the cause, students’ specific learning needs must be acknowledged and supported. Technology helps make this support possible. The diverse tools and capabilities of technology make learning accessible for all—now, the only challenge is using the technology to support that accessibility.

"Good tools do not make a good teacher, but a good teacher makes good use of tools." – Eleanor Doan

(Fuller et al, 2012)

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References:

Fuller, W. et al. (2012). Assessing classroom technology integration. Education World.  Retrieved from http://www.educationworld.com/a_tech/tech/tech243.shtml

Richards, C. (2004, Mar 22). Using ICT Effectively with Deaf Children. The Guardian. Retrieved from http://www.theguardian.com/education/2004/mar/22/elearning.technology

^*: This statement is made in the belief that students on the autism spectrum use symbol-based communication systems as their primary language (understood and acquired prior to the use of spoken or written English), and could be considered arguable among professionals. I’m still doing some personal study into this matter—that’s for another post entirely.

Scoop.it!

In the interest of learning new technologies, this week I challenged myself to master a new tech tool as part of a class assignment for Educational Technology. Scoop.it is a link-sharing site, which allows for users to curate a topic by providing and commenting on links relevant to that topic.

My Scoop on Educational Technology (specific to a class assignment) can be found here.

My intention is to continue using Scoop.it in order to compile and comment on articles, videos, and other links related to education, autism, Deaf culture, and all other blog-relevant topics.

It is an fun, creative, and easy to use tool. You can create your own topics, look into others, and find links relevant to your interests by using keywords. I highly recommend giving it a try, mostly because... why not?

Happy Scooping!

EDU352 Journal Assignment: The Evolution of Educational Technology

When surveying the history of educational technology, a few key developments stand out: the use of radio, television, computers, and the Internet in classrooms. With the introduction of each of these into the education scene, naysayers were at the ready. These were toys, designed for leisure activities, not for productivity—why would they, how could they possibly be used as educational tools? And yet, with the will and work of the educators of the times, it was done. Sometimes, it was done fantastically, so that students were engaged and motivated like never before.

Television in the Classroom, c. 1950s.

But the most striking characteristic that these developments share is that they are based in social connectivity. They have shaped the landscape of education by connecting it to the world outside the classroom, by keeping those two environments linked in such a way that education is no longer contained within its own existence, but rather coexists with the real and wider world. This is what drives student interest—the constant question, “How is this going to help me? What can I do with this lesson, this skill? Why should I learn this?” With these connective technologies, we have begun answering that question for our students, so that they can see the end goals that lie beyond end of year testing and high school graduation. With each new development in these social technologies, we can more thoroughly answer that question, and give students passion, incentive, and direction.

My personal experience with educational technologies can be characterized by transitions. As I entered high school in 2004, new technological transitions were beginning to take shape. Overhead projectors used in middle school were slowly being replaced by interactive white boards, which teachers were unsure how to use. We, the students, tried to help our struggling teachers, but often with little success—by the time I graduated, we still had one teacher that insisted on using it as a dry-erase whiteboard, much to the dismay of the custodial staff. We had desktop computers available throughout the school—at least one in most classrooms—which students could use, and lacking personal access, I often did. Data storage was moving from 3½” floppy disks to USB sticks, and the Internet connection slowly improved. By the time I graduated in 2008, many of these changes were in place, and I’m sure more changes have been made since I’ve left.

Left: The Overhead Projector, or "The Old Way"   Right: The Interactive Whiteboard, or "The New Way"

This experience with educational technology was overwhelmingly positive, though not without its drawbacks. We often spent more time focused on learning how to use the technology than actually using it for a productive purpose, as in the case of the interactive white boards and new softwares like redesigned versions of Word and PowerPoint. Once we made it past the initial steps, however, the benefits became clearer. I learned to accomplish new tasks in shorter amounts of time, like building presentations and editing the layout of articles for the school newspaper. It also became much easier to search for information—especially that which wasn’t readily available at out small local library. When I wanted to learn ASL, for example, my only resource was an old textbook my parents hadn’t returned to their school library in Cleveland, which had outdated signs and explanations of Deaf culture. It was much easier to use the school’s Internet to discover more current and appropriate signs (which showed movement better than 2-D arrows, too!), as well as current trends and issues in the Deaf community. (As an example, here are the signs for education and technology—I found them in less than five minutes). This access to information was, I think, the most beneficial of all—I could learn anything I wanted, without the restraints of a small town library and underfunded school district. My education was suddenly boundless.

In her 2011 article featured on Edutopia, Suzie Boss says “technology can help students develop higher-order thinking skills, creativity, and research abilities” (Boss, 2011). I wholeheartedly believe it. I’ve seen it, and I’ve lived it. Higher-order and creative thinking become a necessity when navigating new technological landscapes. And at the rate of its evolution, the technological landscape will always, in some capacity, appear “new”. To manage this rapid change, collaboration, creativity, and motivation are key, for students and adults alike. My experience with educational technology has taught me all of these, and my hope is that it can and will do the same for my students.

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Reference:

Boss, S. (2011, Sept 7). Technology Integration: A Short History. Edutopia. Retrieved from http://www.edutopia.org/technology-integration-history