Teaching with Technology Blog- Using Technology to Enhance Your College Teaching

          Google Sites is a quick and easy way to create accessible and shareable information without coding or markup language.  It is as easy as uploading files and attachments and inserting maps, videos, documents, spreadsheets, photo slideshows, and calendars.  Permission settings designate those who are collaborators, viewers, and owners.  Content within the site is searchable (Google Sites, 2011).  Cloud computing enables students and teachers to upload and store information that is reusable and accessible.

Using Google Sites for teaching and learning within science provides learners with a “one-stop-shop” for assignments, announcements, policies, and content specific to the individual courses.  Unlike institutional LMSs, Google Sites are created by instructors.  Just like other online resources, students are comfortable using websites and would not have to navigate new and changing LMSs.  YouTube^TM videos and podcasts of scientific innovations and experiments can be quickly uploaded.  In online science courses, students have a tough time understanding concepts written by instructors, but they could take smaller concepts and discuss them in groups and then attempt to re-teach that to others.  Recorded lectures can also be accessed through the site.  When doing group projects or even hosting office hours, Hangouts is accessible and the site is shareable just by copy/pasting the URL.               

Benefits of using Google Sites for student engagement surround collaboration, the ability to upload projects, media, or portfolios for everyone to see.  Open communication, simultaneous responding, yet allowing the instructor to be a gatekeeper as students converse are aspects of constructivist learning (Denton, 2012). Challenges of Google Sites for engaging science students surrounds Internet access and students checking in on the site for updates.  A challenge can be effectively assessing how students improve academically via Google Sites (Denton, 2012).  Using Google Sites to further engage students is useful in sharing reflections, having students learn computer literacy in creating their own pages to teach other students, and establishing a social media connection, such as Twitter^TM.  Rather than having students read and write papers, groups can collaborate and develop and share wikis, critique them like the well-known Wikipedia, and then edit the project (Laureate Education, 2011).  Learning styles may differ but generally people can “play around with” websites and maneuver them well.

       Blogging can be done with Internet access.  I use the Blogger app on my iPhone and iPad to create and respond to blogs.  With Internet access, email notifications alert me as to new comments.  Blogging is easily linked to social networking sites, other blogs, websites, and online platforms.  It is easy to direct traffic to the blog.  Time consumption is inevitable in building a presence or following.  What is the brand? What is unique? Does the blogger put time into keeping up with the posts and being diligent about the reliability and validity of what is being said?  What is the degree of presence of the blogger to generate interest in the blog?  Content is vulnerable to being taken and reused.  If I am a professor with a novel idea or with content specific to my course, then posting it for the world to see will leave the content open to usage without permission.

References

Denton, D. W. (2012). Enhancing instruction through constructivism, cooperative learning, and cloud computing. TechTrends, 56(4), 34-41. doi: 10.1007/s11528-012-0585-1

Gaille, B. (2015, June 4). 16 pros and cons of blogging. Retrieved from http://brandongaille.com/16-pros-and-cons-of-blogging/

Google Sites. (2011). Google Sites overview. Retrieved from http://www.google.com/sites/overview.html

Laureate Education (Producer). (2011). New and emerging technological trends for education [Video file]. Retrieved from https://class.waldenu.edu

Teaching with Technology Blog— Online Learning Resources and Professional Development

Five online learning technology resources that I wish to use in future teachings are 1) Prezi, 2) Vine, 3) Wikis, 4) Skype, and 5) Instagram.  I am comfortable creating Prezi shows, but actually displaying the shows, well I tend to have some technical difficulty.  I actually have never used Vine and my Instagram account is collecting virtual dust.  Not that I don't know how to us them, I just don't maintain usage.  I have used Skype quite often in virtual teaching and tutoring, but without a document camera, it becomes hard to write and lecture, simultaneously.  Wiki is nothing new, we all do Google searches and Wikis pop up with instant answers.  Granted, these site can allow anyone to edit information, they still contain the general consensus on a variety of topics.

Within the college setting, I have not come across instruction or professional development programs for said 5 technologies.  However, in the private tutoring sector, various students seek help and many are overseas or in a far city/ state.  Although there isn't professional development, tutors still have the chance to play around with different technologies.  Skype was crucial to the deliverance of such tutoring services, because communication was immediate, live, and synchronous to the class (Faulds, 2015; Pan & Sullivan, 2005).  I heard about Prezi through another faculty member and decided to check it out on my own.  Although there is a lack of programs to teach about using these technologies, teachers are really left to playing around with online resources.  That is not a hard task, really it is a Google search away.  Now Vine and Instagram come under heat due to social media usage, privacy issues, and some questionable activity.  However, online resources should be integrated once one knows how to do so wisely.  One way to incorporate social media into teaching would be through educating the faculty members. There is a resource called TeacherSquare, where teachers connect online about new ideas, and another place is Tioki, where virtual chats are conducted to communicate with experts (WeAreTeachers, 2015).  If one wants to learn about online sources, one could do so online.

Have you ever heard of the "elevator pitch?"  Well, you want to get the point across in 2 minutes.  Vine and Instagram are like multimedia versions of texts- short messages.  Students want information at the touch of a screen, Vine and Instagram can provided quick tutorials, tips, tricks, hints.  Prezi is an alternative to the traditional PowerPoint in terms of being web-based and have a different aesthetic.  You feel like you are "zooming" from slide to slide, which may make the presentation more engaging and satisfying (Cunningham, 2014).  Skype is  great tool to have virtual office hours or review sessions, and to connect with distance learners.  Dr. Michael Simonson stated that in the last decade, Internet-based, distance education became widely popular in the U.S. (Laureate Education, 2013).  Wikis are already go-to sites for fast information, why not create a wiki-page for a class.  Supplementary to learning management systems, wikis are one-stop-shops for images, descriptions, and references.    Students can even construct their own wikis to teach, critique, and review other students' work (Carroll, Diaz, Meiklejohn, Newcomb, & Adkins, 2013).  Some platforms do not have compatible mobile apps, why not choose those that already exist?

References

Carroll, J. A., Diaz, A., Meiklejohn, J., Newcomb, M., & Adkins, B. (2013). Collaboration and competition on a wiki: The praxis of online social learning to improve academic writing and research in under-graduate students.Australasian Journal of Educational Technology, 29(4).

Cunningham, C. M. (2014). Prezi Presentational Software as an Educational Tool for Analyzing Pathology Slides: Promoting a Learner Centered Environment Through Technology to Increase Student Satisfaction. Lab Medicine, 45(2), e73-e79.

Faulds, D. J. (2015). Overcoming Geographical Obstacles: The Use of Skype in a Graduate-Level Social Media and Marketing Course. American Journal of Business Education (Online), 8(2), 79.

Laureate Education (Producer). (2013). Distance education: The next generation [Video file]. Retrieved from https://class.waldenu.edu

Pan, C. C., & Sullivan, M. (2005). Promoting Synchronous Interaction in an eLearning Environment: Cyber-Instructors Continually Seek Instructional Tools That Will Hold Students' Attention, and Make Online Communications More Efficient and Effective. Skype Is the Latest One to Test. THE Journal (Technological Horizons In Education), 33(2), 27.

WeAreTeachers. (2015). Online professional development: A guide to social media for educators. Retrieved from http://www.weareteachers.com/blogs/post/2013/07/29/online-professional-development-a-guide-to-social-media-for-educators