Chalk Bored: Implementing Technology to Engage Students and Redesign Teaching

1. Chalk Bored: Implementing Technology to Engage Students and Redesign Teaching June 26, 2012 Associate Instructor Development Series Summer 2012 Jamiella Brooks CutchaRisling Baldy

2. Agenda • Introductions • Icebreakers • Associate Instructor Development Series Nuts & Bolts • Syllabus • Certificate Series • Wikispaces (ucdaitc.wikispaces.com) • Philosophy of Technology • Clickers in the Classroom • Creating effective and engaging powerpoint presentations • Technology outside the classroom

3. How Do You Feel About… • I am drawn to my quiet students <--------->  I am drawn to my louder/more outgoing students • It’s more important for me to convey as much information as possible during class time <----> It’s more important for my students to discuss with one another during class time • I use lots of different kinds of technology in the classroom <----------> I prefer a “bare” classroom.

4. Website http://ucdaitc.wikispaces.com/

5. Syllabus http://ucdaitc.wikispaces.com/Syllabus

6. Certificate Series To receive a certificate, you must attend 5 out of 6 sessions, turn in at least one assignment, and respond to the assignment of at least one peer. Overachievers are invited and encouraged to go above and beyond this minimum requirement.

7. Technology in the Classroom

11. Links to videos • http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL0F8F3DF4B36A9049 • http://chronicle.com/article/Teach-Naked-Effort-Strips/47398/

12. Discussion Think-Pair-Share: What do you agree/disagree with in these two videos? What do you think is the role of technology in the classroom?

13. Clickers in the Classroom

14. Don’t forget: You can copy-paste this slide into other presentations, and move or resize the poll. Poll: If you had to eat one odd food, what wou...

15. Don’t forget: You can copy-paste this slide into other presentations, and move or resize the poll. Poll: What is your favorite in-classroom techn...

16. Don’t forget: You can copy-paste this slide into other presentations, and move or resize the poll. Poll: What is your least favorite in-classroom...

17. Don’t forget: You can copy-paste this slide into other presentations, and move or resize the poll. Poll: What do you think about clicker question...

18. Use of classroom “clickers” to promote acquisition of advanced reasoning skills Gregory A. DeBourgh http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1471595307000200 Strong positive ratings were reported for use of the clicker for testing pre-requisite knowledge and comprehension of preparatory textbook readings (85% and 77% very useful or somewhat useful, respectively), for confirming understanding of concepts from class discussion and textbook readings (87% and 71% very or somewhat useful, respectively), and for correcting misconceptions about content from readings and from class sessions (70% and 78% very or somewhat useful, respectively). When clickers were used to provide feedback to students about the accuracy of their thinking and decision-making in case studies, 72% (n = 52) of students found this immediate feedback as very or somewhat useful.

19. Classroom Questioning with Immediate Electronic Response: Do Clickers Improve Learning? Steven A. Yourstone,Howard S. Kraye, Gerald Albaum http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1540-4609.2007.00166.x/full This research quantitatively measured the difference in examination scores between clicker-based classes and non–clicker-based classes in a School of Business.  The questions were displayed on an overhead projection screen with typically four possible answers. For each question, the instructor would set a timer in the software to cut off accepting responses from students after a designated period of time.    The findings of this research provide some evidence that the use of immediate feedback using a technology like clickers can have an impact on student learning as measured by test scores. The ability of the students and the instructor to engage in a dialogue around each question seems to be very beneficial. There appears to be much more involvement of the students during the class time. 

20. Creating Effective and Engaging Power Point Lectures August 15, 2012

21. Criticisms of Power Point* • PowerPoint encourages simplistic thinking, with complex ideas being squashed into bulleted lists. • PowerPoint presentations seem designed to guide and reassure a presenter, rather than to enlighten the audience. • PowerPoint encourages the use of unhelpfully simplistic tables and charts, tied to the low resolution of computer displays and the need for text to be readable by a large audience. • PowerPoint lends itself to poor typography and chart layout. • PowerPoint’s outline format leads presenters to arrange material in an unnecessary hierarchy. • PowerPoint’s “click-for-next-slide” mentality enforces a linear progression through the presenters hierarchy of ideas (whereas with handouts, readers could browse and explore items at their leisure);

22. Research on the effectiveness of PPT Effectiveness of PowerPoint presentations in lectures Robert A. Bartsch & Kristi M. Cobern Investigatedwhetherstudentslikedand learned more from PPT thanfromtransparencies. Studentspreferred PPT but performedworse on quizzeswhen PPT included non-text items such as pictures and soundeffects, particularlywithirrelevantpictures. Weconcludethat PPT canbebeneficial, but material not pertinent to the presentationcanbeharmful to learning. http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0360131503000277 Powerpoint versus TraditionalOverheads. Whichis More Effective for Learning? Christine Ahmed Data analysisindicatedthattherewasverylittledifference in test scores whencomparing test scores followingtraditionaloverheads and Powerpoint presentations. The studysuggeststhattechnologyis not a magicbullet, and whatismost important in the classroomis a good teacher. http://1.usa.gov/MMK6jT

23. Research on the effectiveness of PPT The Effect of PowerPoint Presentations on Student Learning and Attitudes Hossein Nouri and AbdusShahid Studytestingwhetherusing PPT enhancesstudent short-term memory, long-term memory, and attitudes toward class presentation and the instructor Surveyedtwo sections of an accounting course: one whichused PPT as a delivery system, anotherusingtraditionalmethods Results: PPTsmayimprovestudent attitudes toward the instructor and class presentation, however, givesno conclusive evidencethatPPTsimprove short or long termmemory http://bit.ly/OaLC2K

24. Designing Power Point Presentations* • Avoid using the presentation as your lecture notes. • Minimize text • Minimize distractions – Plain is better than flashy. • Select non-distracting and simple backgrounds • Select simple, easy-to-read fonts (small fonts annoy audiences) • Select simple and smooth transitions • Don’t include irrelevant illustrations, animations, or sounds

25. Designing Power Point Presentations* • Be strategic • A good picture is worth a thousand words and a bad one needs explanation. • Make it yours • Leave room for flexibility, questions, and the occasional tangent.

26. Presenting Material in Class* • Cover your backside • Don’t turn your back on your audience and don’t read directly from the slides. • Be relevant • Students will write down everything on a slide. To avoid having them writing down point #3 while ignoring your current lecture on point #1, reveal info on the slide as you speak of it. • Fade to black (or white) • There are times when you will want student attention away from the screen and on you or discussion. This can be accomplished by placing a blank slide at relevant points or, by simply hitting your B key (B blackens the screen, B again brings the slideshow back on-screen). • Experiment

27. Premise: Both as individuals and as a species, humans are fundamentally social.

28. CANALS More immigration from Europe Chinese Hispanic colonization Native removal

29. Quick Tips • Know Your Audience • style, level, focus • Limit Your Material • an absolute max of one slide/minute, less if possible • Text Is Death • lean and mean slides, avoid complete sentences. • Explain Your Graphics • why is that screen shot here. Will anybody in the audience even be able to see it clearly enough? • Define Your Terms • consider your acronyms, buzzwords etc. • Structure Matters • You presentation should make sense.

30. Out-of-ClassroomResources • Facebook

31. Facebook

32. Out-of-ClassroomResources • Facebook • Blogs: Blogger, Wordpress, Livejournal, Tumblr

33. Blogs

34. Out-of-ClassroomResources • Facebook • Blogs: Blogger, Wordpress, Livejournal • Wikis and Sites: Wikispaces, Google Sites,

35. Out-of-ClassroomResources • Facebook • Blogs: Blogger, Wordpress, Livejournal • Wikis and Sites: Wikispaces, Google Sites, • Assessment and Student Interaction: Polleverywhere.com, Google Moderator, Today’s Meet

36. Google Moderator

37. Today’sMeet

38. Assignment EITHER develop a draft ppt presentation for a lecture OR create your own Poll Everywhere and a mini lesson plan, describing how you would implement it in your classroom