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I really enjoyed using Google Forms to create a technology survey. I had no idea that Google Forms even existed before beginning this project. I have created surveys on Qualtrics for graduate classes in the past, but Qualtrics is more complicated and better suited for surveying a large number of people. For questionnaires aimed toward students in a classroom, Google Forms is a great, simple solution.
I was disappointed with the lack of themes, but the current ones available are easily customizable. Because none of the themes suited my questionnaire, I customized my own theme with a computer graphic. I also thought it was a lot easier on Google Forms to change your question type than it is on Qualtrics. When designing my survey, I tried to include a variety of different question types. I included 3 open ended questions, and 10 closed ended questions. When designing questions regarding technology use, I wished to decide how many of my students had computers or tablets readily available and if they had wireless internet at home. I also wished to gauge their comfort level with technology, and their attitude toward technology in the classroom. Reflecting back, I think decreasing the amount of open ended questions for students to answer might be a good idea, in order to maximize student response. After getting responses back from my group members, it was neat to be able to see the results of my questionnaire. It was also great to take my group members’ questionnaires and to see their creativity in designing their themes and the thoughtfulness of their questions. I found both of their questionnaires very user friendly and quick to navigate through.
In Teaching and Learning with Technology, chapter 7 discusses a wide variety of software that schools purchase (2015). The wonderful thing about Google Forms is that it can be accessible from any computer for free! With this software, teachers do not have to worry about reloading software when changing computers or not being able to access class material from home because they do not have the right software at home. I found it very easy to create a survey using Google Forms; after completing this project, I now feel very comfortable with using the tool. This is definitely an instrument I wish to utilize in my future classroom for students and parents. By getting feedback from students, I can adapt my instruction to best suit my classroom.
Link to creating a survey:
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1bKygFFoYj3NsOKmJtzu3-BqucNUQ7BP2W_uC-Q9hyn4/viewform?usp=send_form
Project Three: Google Docs and Google Slides
When utilizing Google Docs, I created an instructional handout for my students regarding plagiarism. Using Google Docs, I was able to create a document using word editing software and share this document with my group members. Google Docs is innovative because it allows multiple people to collaborate on a document from any location with internet. Google Docs is very similar to Microsoft Word and is very user friendly. The one complaint I have about Google Docs is that it does not allow you to right click and paste, but you must use your keyboard to press CTRL+V. I find this slightly annoying.
In my future classroom, using Google Docs is definitely a great idea. Google Docs allows one to insert images into the document and to wrap the text around the image. Google Docs is my favorite tool of all the tools used in the projects. In many of my graduate classes involving group projects, we have been able to easily collaborate and share information with this tool. Google Docs keeps track of who changes what, so you can easily check to see who is contributing.
Before this project, I was unaware that Google had the slides feature. For project 3, I was able to create a PowerPoint for the Big6 research model. For me, Google Slides was very easy to utilize and I had no trouble with the tool. The tool was very similar to Microsoft PowerPoint, which I have a lot of experience with. A variety of themes are available and these themes can be customized however you wish. When working on group projects, this is a great way to collaborate quickly with group members.
In my future teaching career, I wish to utilize Google Slides and Google Docs as tools in my instruction. Even if students do not have expensive tools installed on their computers, like the particular software discussed in chapter seven of Teaching and Learning with Technology (Duffy & McDonald, 2015), as long as they have internet access, they will be able to access, create, and edit material. Additionally, by utilizing a flipped classroom style, students can view the instructional material and make whatever edits they wish to make using Google Slides and Google Docs.
Links to Google Doc and Google Slides:
1. Plagarism Instructional Document
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1MOwKdsAWADlGF1FW6lLouNuW29LKTkTWPZem4I4BvnE/edit?usp=sharing
2. Presentation on Big6
https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1XhyfTt1EqLG6fY8r4Lxt-b_s8ya_qg1F6KS-P-tFMqk/edit?usp=sharing
Project Four: Google Spreadsheets
Before beginning Project 4, I had no idea the Google Spreadsheet tool existed. I am very excited to utilize this tool in future projects for my classroom. This tool is free and easy to use, and I think it would be great for keeping a class gradebook. Using this form, you can access it anywhere you have internet access, so teachers do not have to worry about having software installed on both work and personal computers. Chapter 7 of the textbook Teaching and Learning with Technology (Duffy & McDonald) discusses student privacy concerns in having grades saved in this manner, which I believe may be the only negative aspect of this software. It is imperative that teachers make sure that these documents are not shared with anyone: With hacking becoming of more concern in our society, this is something that needs to be addressed.
Personally, the spreadsheet tool was easy to navigate and to figure out as it was similar to Microsoft Excel, which I have familiarity with. It also allowed me to create graphs based on data entered into the spreadsheet. I was a little disappointed in the appearance of the graphs and wished they would appear more streamlined. Additionally, having set themes colors for the graphs could make customizing them easier. The spreadsheet tool is one tool where I think the main focus is on convenience of access rather than sharing. As a future teacher, I look forward to saving spreadsheets to Google Drive and being able to access them regardless of computer software or location to best serve my students.
link to spreadsheet:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1_yKv5M_tBPLopSFhYyvAaIJB4u47rjr4uifqbI1n_rE/edit?usp=sharing
Textbook:
J.L. Duffy & J.B. McDonald. (2015). Software for teacher tasks. Teaching and Learning with Technology. 5th ed. (145-174).
I choose for my 7th grade English Language Arts students to do a biography research project using online tools, so I could teach research skills along with incorporating technological literacy. In the lesson, students research a historical figure using Biography.com and create an online graphic organizer. I also wanted to incorporate group work into my lesson plan, so I designed the lesson to have students discuss their historical figures together before researching. Biography.com is a very user friendly, easy to use biography site, so I thought it would be a good choice for 7th graders who are still at the beginning stages of research. In my flipped lecture, I wanted students to know what they would be doing in class before it started, so we would not use a lot of time going over instructions. So, in my presentation, I went through the lesson and took screenshots of the progress, so students would have an idea of the biography research process before class started. When writing my lesson plan, I wanted to ensure that I adequately covered the Mississippi College and Career Readiness Standards, so I navigated to the MDE website to find my settings. Finding 7th grade English Language Arts in the PDF posted on MDE’s website is a little frustrating, as there are so many pages to navigate through. I also struggled with deciding exactly how long I wanted the lesson to last, but I ultimately decided that two fifty minute sessions would be adequate for the Biography project. In my lesson plan, I wanted to integrate a virtual graphic organizer into my lesson, so I could incorporate technological literacy. I had difficulty finding the right virtual graphic organizer, but I ultimately chose one from ReadWriteThink. I think the graphic organizer I chose could still use some improvement, as it only allowed one to print the graphic organizer out and did not allow the user to save it. However, the one I found was the most user friendly one accessible to me.
Writing the lesson plan was very beneficial to me, as I have limited experience writing plans. It was rewarding to follow the Dynamic Instructional Design model and to enrich my lesson plan with technology. When writing the course learning objectives, I looked at the state standards combined with what I wanted my students to be able to do. From my graduate classes, I have learned the importance of including Bloom’s taxonomy levels into these objectives. This is definitely more challenging than I imagined it would be. It takes a good deal of critical thinking to incorporate higher level thinking into a lesson plan. The flipped lecture style was also challenging to wrap my head around, but I really appreciate the learning approach. It was nice to prepare material for students to view at home, so the majority of the class period is spent on teaching students research skills actively. The preceding allows maximum class time to be utilized and for students to receive help in the area of research.
From creating the lesson plan, I have learned valuable skills that I will use in my future teaching career. I enjoyed getting to actively create a lesson plan. It was nice to take a break from the graduate student world of reading textbooks and writing long papers and get to put my knowledge actively to use. For this project, I used Microsoft Word, PowerPoint, and a virtual graphic organizer, and these are helpful programs I definitely plan to use on a daily basis in the classroom. Chapter 7 of the textbook Teaching and Learning with Technology was definitely helpful to me in this part of the lesson, as it provided some valuable assistance regarding navigating software such as Word and PowerPoint (Duffy & McDonald, 2015). Without teacher software discussed in the book, creating lesson plans would be significantly harder, and this software is very useful for teacher tasks (Duffy & McDonald, 2015). In my future lesson plan writing, I plan to implement the DID model because it was useful to me in guiding me to enrich my lesson plan with technology usage skills.