Teaching Methods Goals

Here are some of the goals I'm thinking of including on my "initial report," due September 30:

1. Create a classroom climate of community and cooperation (holy alliteration!)

Challenges: the class is only 8 weeks long, doing work on a computer screen doesn't (on the surface) seem to lend itself to community building, I have a hard time learning names (important for community!)

Strategies: setting the stage on the first day, creating frequent opportunities for students to work collaboratively/cooperatively, encouraging students to look to other students as resources, encouraging students to be helpful and supportive of one another

2. Incorporate more active learning components to replace lecture and listening

Challenges: none that I can think of except the significant time commitment required to develop new activities and materials

Strategies: develop materials to supplement the textbook, incorporate group and partner activities, incorporate activities that help to achieve learning goals but are not computer-based (for variety, and to avoid "screen daze")

3. Divide classroom time into smaller segments to foster student engagment, access different learning styles, and keep things moving!

Challenges: I am used to teaching this class in a three-hour block in the morning to a group of students who are very motivated to learn. Previsouly my class was routinely divided up into longer segments
-10 minutes: arrival/settle in/turn in homework
-10 minutes: discussion of the "quote of the day"
-40 minutes: lecture/interactive demonstration of unit computer skills with Q&A incorporated
-10 minutes: break
-40 minutes: continued lecture/interactive demonstration of unit computer skills with Q&A incorporated
-10 minutes: break
-60 minutes: open lab time, students work together or individually on assignments with the teacher present for questions
I will have to significantly adjust my teaching methods and materials to change this format. It will also be a challenge to ensure that students get enough "concrete" information and teacher support when the time is organized differently.

Strategies: Come up with new classroom routines to accommodate shorter segments. Use a variety of activities to replace long lecture/demonstration. This goal really goes hand-in-hand with the second goal.

Student Feedback

One of the journal entries I assigned last week (midway through Windows XP) was to give me feedback on how students were feeling about the class so far. I should have documented all of their comments, but unfortunately I have already graded and handed them back, so the official evidence is lost.

Nevertheless, I do remember some of the positive comments that were made:

• I like the Scavenger Hunts.
• The class is well-paced.
• I have learned a lot.
• I like working with and getting to know my classmates.

And I remember some of the negative comments too:

• Some classmates can be annoying.
• I am sometimes confused.
• I don't like it when my time is wasted because other students came to class late. One time my partner and I had our hands raised for 10 minutes and never had our question answered. I shouldn't have to wait just because other students are not responsible.

Overall, I was pleased that many students left the "negative feedback question" blank, or said they had nothing negative to report. I was also pleased that many students said they liked everything under the positive feedback question.

The most useful answers were the specific ones. I was really happy that at least one student found the Textbook Scavenger Hunts to be useful, because I have spent so much time developing (and grading) those! I also was glad to see that at least one student felt the class was well-paced, since I also put a lot of effort into organizing class time.

I try to divide class periods up into several segements, involving different ways of learning. Here are some of the activities students do in class:

• working with a partner or trio
• working individually
• exploring/reading the textbook
• doing practical exercises on the computer (some instructions are text-based, others are entirely visual/graphical)
• doing practical exercises manipulating physical objects other than the computer (documents and file folders)
• listening to the instructor or a student volunteer present material
• following along with the instructor in an interactive demonstration
• large-group Q&A
• journalling/reflection
• open lab time

Overall, the student feedback made me feel that students have reacted positively to the teaching methods I have employed, and that the main issues I need to work on are:

• being more clear in my instructions and making sure that classroom activities are also helping students to achieve greater competency in the necessary skills
• continuing to conscientiously foster a classroom climate of helpfulness and cooperation throughout the duration of the course
• not letting some students monopolize my attention during class at the expense of others (also eyes on the back of my head would help :) )

Considering how nervous I was at the beginning of the semester, I definitely was glad to see that students are not outrageously displeased with the class so far. In fact, their feedback was quite positive, which was a big relief to me!

Blackboard

One of the biggest adjustments I have experienced has been the transition to using Blackboard. I didn't even write about in the Personal Action Implementation Plan, because I didn't realize how much it would affect me.

To ease my transition into teaching Windows XP under so many new circumstances, I based my class on the Blackboard site set up and provided to me by my department chair. I reused all of the assignments that were already set up on Blackboard, which was a big help, since I did not know how to create assignment links from scratch in Blackboard. (I did have to do a significant amount of customization, especially to the menu which I found too confusing, and the gradebook where I added columns for graded in-class activities and an additional exam.)

Although the links were set up for me, I continually come upon new challenges generated by Blackboard: How to open an assignment submitted on Blackboard for grading purposes? How to clear an assignment a student submitted in error? How to move a column in the gradebook? How to create an online test? How do students check their grades?

These questions continually arise and take up a significant amount of my time. Grading is also slower and more cumbersome than I remember. Blackboard is pretty slow at displaying attached documents, and often requires confirmation of some sort (due to varying software versions used by students). So there is extra waiting and clicking, which seem to really slow down the process.

On the other hand, I am able to type up all my grading comments in advance and it much quicker to copy and paste a series of comments into the comments box, than to handwrite comments on each student's paper. I also like that the unit quizzes are graded automatically within Blackboard.

And what about the student point of view? Many students have seemed to struggle with finding the information they need on Blackboard. Even though I streamlined and reorganized much of the original template, I realize that I probably could still do more to make the information more accessible for students. I have taken notes on the specific changes I will make for next time, but one main change will be to reduce the number of buttons on the menu. For the short term, I created a classroom exersize called "Blackboard Scavenger Hunt," in which students worked in pairs to locate essential information on Blackboard. The scavenger hunt also focused heavily on reading instructions on Blackboard. My sense was that this helped students find key bits of information and reinforced the importance of reading instructions before attempting assignments.

Another problem students have reported is difficulty submitting assignments via Blackboard. I think there are several reasons for this, some of which I can address immediately and some which need to be looked at for the next time I offer this class:

• Part of this problem may be due to the fact that students have 4 different places to find instructions regarding their assignments--the syllabus (which has the due date), the unit assignments folder (which has general instructions for the whole unit), the submission links (which contain specific instructions on what to submit for the individual assignments), and the textbook (which is where the actual exercises are explained). For next time, I will provide all of these instructions in print format, in a single location. It will either be part of the syllabus, or a separate handout which I will give out on the first day. Having this information in paper format will hopefully help students follow along, and eliminating this text-heavy information from Blackboard should help further streamline the site and make it more user friendly. The only thing left on the Blackboard assignments link would be the submission links themselves; all instructions would be on paper (and a copy of the paper doc under Course Documents, I suppose).
• Another part of the problem with submitting assignments is the skill level of beginning computer students. Some students are more advanced, and have adapted more easily, but since this is a beginning class, it should be appropriate for true beginners. The process of creating a print screen, copying it to Word, saving the document, and uploading it to Blackboard is actually not something that students should technically be able to do until the fourth week of class, since many of the skills needed are covered in Units A-C of Windows XP. So it really is unfair, to a certain extent, to ask students to perform these skills before they have been covered in class. On the other hand, students have managed to adapt. For next time, I need to think about delaying the submission of assignments on Blackboard, and creating some intermediate steps before students are required to do this. Specifically, students should first practice and become comfortable with creating print screens and copying them into a document. The next step would be to simply print the document out without saving. Meanwhile, they can complete quizzes on Blackboard to become more comfotable with the online system (quizzes do not require any file managment skills). Unit B covers saving documents, so that would be a good time to expect students to be able to save print screen documents to their H: drive. Finally, once they have mastered saving documents into a folder, then they could reasonably be expected to do all of these things AND upload to Blackboard. This way, the first print screen assignments to be submitted online should be the Unit B assignments. I will definitely redesign my syllabus for next time to delay the submission of print screen assignments through Blackboard.
• Finally, the print screen instructions I inherited from the department require students to save files in Word. Again, Word requires some skills and familiarity that we can't reasonably expect beginning Windows XP students to have. It is also a program they may or may not have on their home computers, possibly creating an additional barrier for them. I need to research what other programs would be adequate for submitting assignments via Blackboard. Possibly a program covered in this class or a simple graphic file that would not be difficult to create. I think this would be a big improvement for students (and for me if I can avoid extra wait time and confirmation messages due to Word).

Overall, I think I will continue to use Blackboard, but I realize that there are a lot of things that could be improved in this area, both for my ease of use and to maximize the students' learning experience.

First Day of Class

Here is what I learned about the get-to-know-you icebreaker: it works better in a small group. (Never again in a large group!)

1) In my first class, I had an icebreaker. Students wrote a get-to-know-you question on an index card, and then passed the card to someone else. Then they wrote a second question on the new card. After that, they had to get up and cross the room to introduce themselves to someone and answer the questions on their card. The students seemed to recieve the activity fairly well. They were talking and moving about the room, and did not seem overly ackward about participating.

2) In the second class, I tried it a different way. Students also wrote questions and passed cards the same as before, but then I had them stay in their seats, introduce themselves to the whole group and answer the two questions on their card. This was much more awkward and got the class off to a worse start.

Here is what I learned about Blackboard:

1) It is difficult to do a Blackboard exercise in class on the first day, because not everyone is necessarily registered yet.

2) The instructions I gave in the welcome message were too complicated. They had to read the welcome message, go to Assignments, then the first line of the assignment directed them to Course Documents, where they got instructions on the assignment, and then had to return to Assignments to submit. In the future, I will put the Print Screen Instructions with the Assignment itself (the way I originally had it!).

3) I think I should have given the students more direction instead of assuming they would read and understand all of the directions. Especially on the first day, there is no reason for them to unnessecarily feel "stupid." At the very least, I could have said to the group "This is kind of like a treasure hunt. You will have to read the instructions carefully and click around to different areas in order to complete all the steps. Don't feel shy to ask a classmate or me for help, because some of the steps are not so obvious."

Here is what I learned about journalling:

1) So far, so good. The students cooperated and did not complain. The journals in the first class (where they had a small-group icebreaker) seemed more genuine and sincere. The journals in the second class were ok too, but you could tell they were less warmed up to the journal idea or to the class in general.

2) Now I don't know what to do next. I was going to assign a journal entry that piggybacks on the first. But now I know some students didn't fully answer the first journal, in order to logically do the second. Also, some students may have been absent today but will show up next time. This makes me want to change my plan about piggybacking the topic.

On the other hand, I think that part of the reason for not answering completely was that some students didn't understand the word "impede." (I thought about clarifying that word, but then I decided against possibly talking too much. Again, I realize afterwords that the clarification would have been worth the additional speaking.)

I will probably still piggyback on the last topic, but maybe find a new way of wording the topic so it works even if you didn't complete the first journal.

Here is what I learned about my students:

1) It is true that I have many young students in my class. The 12:30 class had a significant cohort of 18-year-olds just graduated from high school. Also, many students drive in from other towns.

2) I had my first accomodation request. I have to figure out how to administer a test with a reader and give time and a half. I think we will have to schedule the test for a different time, outside of class.

My overall thoughts:

The first day was hard. I was reasonably well-prepared, so in that respect it wasn't so bad. But I feel ackward getting started. I worry about talking too much (and then realize I didn't give enough direction). I worry about having a classroom atmosphere that is not fun. I worry about forgetting to remind students to bring their textbook next week. I worry about a lot of things. . .

It is not the first time I've taught, nor the first time I've taught this course, but for some reason I feel very, very new. I feel like, "will I ever learn?" I hope so!

Experimenting

This fall will be the first time I teach multiple sections of the same class. . .

One thing to consider is that I could experiment by trying different things with my different sections. For instance, I could stick with my regular old quotes for one section, have students write journal entries related to quotes in another section, and do more open-ended journalling assignments in the third section. Or, have the third section be the control group that does computers only.

The benefit is that I could try several different things and compare the outcomes (as percieved by me, such as how the class seems to react/engage, whether it is comfortable for me, etc.). Additionally, since my classes are only 8-weeks long, I could modify my ideas for the second half of the semester and experiment even more.

A drawback is that conducting different activities in each section would entail some additional prep work, which might not be feasible considering my schedule this fall. Another drawback is that the validity of this type of comparison could be comprimised by the chemistry of the different classes. What I mean is every class is different, so even if a technique doesn't seem to work well with one particular group, it might be very well received by a different group.

All in all, experimenting with is an idea worth considering. It might be fun to try!

Journalling #2

The Quote Journal I blogged about on June 2 was designed for an English course, but could it be modified for use in a computer class?

For a long time, I have been using motivational quotes and a quick discussion of the quote to start each class period. My experience has been that motivational quotes can get students thinking and interacting, provide opportunities for students to share personal information (sometimes even fears and insecurities which are often shared by others), and they reinforce the role of education in attaining personal goals. Occasionally the quotes seem superfluous, but often they help students open up and feel more confident about their ability to succeed in computer class.

However, the on course activity adds a new dimension to quotes: journalling. Would journalling work in my computer classes? I think so.

Here are some variations I can think of:

-a one-minute open-ended journal to clear your head before class

-a one-minute journal related to a motivational quote provided by the teacher

-a quote journal (students provide the quotes, commentary not required)

-a short journal activity via email or discussion board

-short reflective journal questions, such as "What could I do to improve my performance in this class?" or "What study techniques might help me retain this information?"

-short feedback journal pieces, such as "What, if anything, did you find difficult about this assignment?" or "So far, what is the most useful thing you have learned in this class?"
I think that journalling is a really useful tool for practicing critical thinking, allowing students to have more participation and control over their own learning, addressing potential barriers or set-backs students may face, and when done in class it allows for silence and internal reflection.
I'm going to consider implementing a journalling activity in my computer classes this fall.

Online Learning Resource

Spanish
http://www.gcfaprendagratis.org/

English
http://www.gcflearnfree.org/

Is this something I could use?