Thursday, September 17, 2015

Week #3

Essential Question: How will you use Action Research to evaluate technology in your classroom?  


Action research tries to make meaning out of the world by involving participants and researchers together to solve problems. (Merriam & Tisdell, 2015, pp. 49) In this way I hope to see if Twitter will help to engage my students both in the classroom and beyond. I’m not quite sure exactly how I will study this right now. I am working to get all of my students accounts set up. As with most technology it has not been smooth sailing. I hope to try to use Twitter as more of an exit ticket at the end of class. I think once I get all of my students working accounts I might be able to play around a little and see how my students respond. From the reading I realize this is part of action research where “the research design continues to unfold as researcher and participants collect and analyze data and make decisions for the next phase of the study.” (Merriam & Tisdell, 2015, pp. 50) I think this will be a key step in determining where to start my research and data collection. I need to see how this technology will work in my classroom and figure out the best strategy for incorporating it into the classroom. By doing this it should help to ensure that what I am studying will actually lead to helpful data.

I really need to do some more research of my own to determine how exactly I want to use Twitter and what data I hope to collect. So far, I have come accross a couple of articles that outline some areas I am interesting in learning more about. In one article Legaspi, a teacher, talks about using twitter in his classroom. “Legaspi said shy students are benefiting the most. For ‘a lot of them, what it did is help find their voice,’ he said. ‘I have many students that do not participate in my classes or share what's on their mind, so Twitter became that vehicle.’” (Simon, 2011) This is something I have been curious about as well and would fit right in with my desire to study engagement. In another article Mrs. Caviness, a teacher, used twitter to ask questions of her students outside of class. She tweeted about things going on in her life, and related them to her math classes. “What Mrs. Caviness found most exciting was the fact that students dropped everything they were doing at home so that they could connect with her around these short math blasts.” (November & Mull, 2012) This is another area that I find intriguing. Students can see real-world connections more easily. I also like how students are engaged in learning even when class is out of session. I am eager to research more and to research in my classroom. I am also eager to hear the opinions of my students.

References

Merriam, Sharan B.; Tisdell, Elizabeth J. (2015, July 6). Qualitative Research: A Guide to Design and Implementation (JOSSEY-BASS HIGHER & ADULT EDUCATION SERIES). Wiley. Kindle Edition.

November, A., & Mull, B. (2012, October 18). How Twitter Can Be Used as a Powerful Educational Tool. Retrieved September 18, 2015, from http://novemberlearning.com/educational-resources-for-educators/teaching-and-learning-articles/how-twitter-can-be-used-as-a-powerful-educational-tool/

Simon, D. (2011, June 9). Twitter finds a place in the classroom. Retrieved September 18, 2015, from http://www.cnn.com/2011/TECH/social.media/06/08/twitter.school/

7 comments:

  1. Does your school have one-to-one technology or are students allowed to bring their own devices? I'm just wondering because I think your idea to use Twitter as an exit ticket is a great idea, but I know it wouldn't work at my school because we don't have the technology and students are not allowed to use their own. I like the quote you used about Twitter helping shy students find their voice. I completely agree from personal experience. I'm not one who would necessarily talk if we all got together in class one night a week, but on Twitter I'm okay with talking, because I can't see other's facial expressions and most times we are all so focused on answering the question that was asked that we don't always have time to respond to others. I think that could really help the shy students who have good things to say in class, but are to fearful to speak up because of other students.

    ReplyDelete
  2. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  3. We do not have one-to-one, but I do have a class set of ipads in my classroom. I agree that I don't think I could do this if I didn't have the class set of iPads. Students cannot access the schools wireless network and there is no data in the village. This means they have to be on a school device, so I am lucky that I have a set of ipads in my room. My previous 3 years teaching I have had little access to technology. I just got the iPads last March, so I am still trying to work out the kinks. Hopefully I will be able to get Twitter to work, but we will see how the next week goes.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Sara- That sounds like an exciting action research project. I would be interested in doing something like that but twitter is blocked at my school. What grade level are you doing this with? Maybe you can see how Twitter helps students response online verse talking. I think the students who rarely talk out might really enjoy this because they still can participate without talking. ☺

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Theresa-I am very lucky. LKSD has not blocked much currently, and I am hoping that it is not blocked in the future. But there are no guarantees. I plan to use this in one of my high school classes. Most of the students in the class are about 10th grade. I would love to try to use it in all of my 3 of my high school science classes, but it has really just been too hard to get all of the students accounts that work.

      I think that is a really great idea in comparing online chat versus talking in class. This might be pretty easy to study because some student who are in my biology class are also in another one of my science classes later in the day. It would be easy to target those students to get their feedback. I can also think of at least 2 who are quieter and I would be interested to hear their thoughts.

      Thanks for the idea!!

      Delete
  5. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  6. I think that Twitter has some real benefit for education with older students and I really hope that it works for you. If I hadn't already had a few classes with weekly Twitter chat, I don't think I would feel that it is worthwhile or viable. However, I am definitely a believer now and I think your students will really enjoy it.

    ReplyDelete