How Do I Use Technology To Facilitate Learning?
When appropriately matched to teaching objectives, technology can be a very powerful tool for facilitating learning. Below, I present and describe specific examples of how I have used technology to meet learning objectives. As part of a course called Instructional Use of Technology, I recently developed new ideas for how to take advantage of technology in my teaching. Some of these new ideas are also incorporated in the following paragraphs.
Objective: Engage Students During Lectures and Cater to Diverse Learning Styles
As stated in my Teaching Overview Page, I try to avoid lengthy and teacher-focused lectures. When I do lecture, I make an effort to limit the amount of consecutive lecture time to 15-20 minute digestible segments and also engage students via discussion questions and collaborative learning activities. Here is an example of a small group activity I recently used (Salt Marsh & Mangrove Pre-Lecture Activity) where the group activity was tightly connected to this powerpoint lecture (Introduction to Salt Marsh and Mangrove Lecture-ppt-pdf). At the beginning of class, I asked the students to form groups of 3-4 and discuss the questions on the handout. During the lecture, we gradually covered these topics and revisited the group answers as a class. Since the students had already thought about and discussed the material, they were more engaged and eager to participate. In addition to activites, I also try to engage students with visual material. When used appropriately, powerpoint is a useful tool for teaching visual learners. The presentation linked above contains various figures/images and little text. Also note the three video clips that are linked within the presentation. I used two of the clips to help the students visualize the change in sea level associated with tidal cycles. I've recently made an effort to find and include relevant online video clips (often from YouTube) in my presentations. In a recent presentation about my research, I used this Discovery-Sunrise Earth clip (Palo Verde Wetland Clip) during the introduction to provide the audience with a better mental image of my research site. Google Earth is also an incredibly useful tool; I often use aerial photos from Google Earth to help students visualize the landscapes we study. Here is an example where I added Google Earth images to a field trip handout to help the students better understand the sites we were going to visit (field trip itinerary & maps).
Objective: Gauge Students' Understanding of Background Material Before Moving on to New Material
Much of the material taught in science courses builds upon material learned in previous weeks or even semesters. So, before moving on to new topics, it is extremely important to gauge whether the class understands the foundation material. A tool that I have used only once but would like to use more frequently is a Personal Response System (PRS). With a PRS, the students each have a handheld device that allows them to anonymously and efficiently answer a question posed in class. The results are then displayed to the entire class. A PRS is an extremely effective way to gauge students’ understanding of concepts previously covered in class or in the readings. For example, in order to understand the unique biogeochemical transformations that occur in wetlands, the students must understand reduction/oxidation reactions and how to calculate oxidation states (material they may have learned in their introductory Chemistry course four years ago and not used since then). A PRS could be used to quickly assess the students' understanding of this important foundational material before moving on and teaching the new application of these concepts. In addition to a PRS, I would also like to use the Blackboard online quiz functions in a similar manner. With Blackboard, short online quizzes can be used to assess the student' understanding of recent readings or concepts covered in class.
Objective: Increase Student-Teacher and Student-Student Communication
In the past, student-teacher communication was often limited to class time or perhaps office hours. Today, email, Facebook, and course management software like Blackboard have greatly improved communication options. I use Blackboard to make announcements and send emails to the entire class or select users. However, the more unique communication tools available on Blackboard are the student to student communication tools. The discussion board can be used by students to answer each others questions and get feedback on their work or reflections. In the wetlands classes I TA, we often assign take home problem sets. If a student has a question, they typically email me and I respond. If it's a common question, I will send out an email to the entire class. The use of a discussion board format for such questions enables the entire class to view and participate in this dialogue immediately. Perhaps most importantly, the students can answer each others' questions.
Objective: Promote Teamwork and Peer Review
Many of the field experiments are conducted as group projects. Often, a group of students must collect, share, and analyze their data as part of these assignments. Here is a frame of a group communications site I created for the General Ecology lab sections to share information (Blackboard Group Communication). This site allows the members of each group to share information and, most importantly, date. In the future, I plan to use the group page tool to organize peer review of written assignments. Instead of having to obtain multiple copies of their work and organize the logistically-complicated distribution of harcopies, the group tools or wiki on blackboard can be used to efficiently manage this process.
Objective: Efficiently Enable Access to Course Materials, Tools, and Grades
I have now managed the course Blackboard sites for seven courses; I have a lot of experience using Blackboard. I use Blackboard to post documents, assignments, course syllabii, and any other important course materials. The use of Blackboard for posting material greatly improves the students' access. There is no delay between when the material is posted and when it is available. Also, there is no need for photocopies or handouts. I also frequently use the Blackboard Gradebook Option. This option enables the students to quickly find out how they did on an assignment and easily keep track of their grades throughout the semester. Another incredibly useful feature available in Blackboard is the option to upload documents from a previous semester into the site for an upcoming semester. This option saves the instructor much busy work and makes course prep much faster.
