Teaching with Technology Observations

Today I did a lesson on Google Earth with third grade classes. I did it 4 times, so I had a chance to see how it went with different kids and different circumstances. Here are some things that I think helped and others that did not:




HELPFUL

• Start out by telling kids that there will probably be glitches and that it is OK. Think of a few plan Bs before even starting. In the past often there are several things that don't work at the same time and I can get caught only troubleshooting. I have also experienced frustration and tears (my own and the kids).


• Start out with some time to play. In the past I get frustrated with kids who are not paying attention when I am giving instructions and kids get in trouble or taken off computers.


• Make the first time using a piece of software a "test" so that it does not require a graded project. The cognitive load of learning a topic and also how to use software can be too much sometimes. This takes lots of pressure off of teacher and student to accomplish a lot the first time.


• Insist on full attention with hands off of the computer (or even having laptops closed or monitors off) when instructions are given, but try to spend as little time as possible with them listening and you talking.
  

NOT HELPFUL

• Fire drills in the middle of the lesson.
  
• Pressure to hurry to finish something.


• Needing to learn both software and a topic at the same time.

I really think that my attitude as a teacher when doing this type of lesson is central to how it goes. If I am easily stressed and upset or have really high expectations of the kids it will be a difficult time.

Laptops banned in University Classrooms

This article from the Washington post really got my blood boiling:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/03/08/AR2010030804915.html?hpid=topnews

After reading Brain Rules by John Medina and many other articles I am convinced that students do not multitask, but with every switch back and forth lose some time and content while they refocus. But laptops are not the problem!! They just show you what is already happening in student's brains that you could not see. I just listened to a very interesting lecture by John Merrow who has been covering Education for a long time (you may have seen one of his reports on NPR). He said that it has been documented that in any audience 8% of the people listen to the whole lecture, 14% fade in and out thinking of other things and then putting attention on the lecturer and a whopping 78% are thinking about something else altogether all or most of the time. The difference is that with a laptop you have evidence and something to blame it on.

The one sentence that made clear sense to me was at the end. It quoted one professor saying:

ultimately, it is a professor's job to hold the class's attention.
"If students don't want to pay attention, the laptop is the least
of your problems," he said.

Who is teaching the kids to focus? Who is designing University instruction that

takes into account the fact that the mind tends to roam?

Image from http://www.flickr.com/photos/penmachine/