Assignment: Update us on your progress. How is your data collection going?
Data collection is hard, but it is going. I am finding it very challenging to make observations, even for just one student. Some days it is easy, when students can get to work and answer their own questions. Other days it is really hard. Like when I am trying to teach or when everyone has a question or multiple questions at the same time. On these days I sometimes have to make mental notes of what I want to write down. Then I just hope I won’t forget it later. Sometimes I do, and I hope I am not losing important data. I do have a template I am using and this has helped a lot. It really helps me to focus on what I am looking for.
Twitter is going okay in my opinion. I can get students to post once a day, but after that it is harder. I have been offering bonus points, but I really think it is just going to take time for the students to feel comfortable using it. I think once they feel comfortable things will be a lot easier. I think I may try posting more during class to get students using it more. My students really like using it, but they do get off topic and search other things sometimes. I think if I can get them to go to tweetdeck instead I might have more on task.
I gave the pre survey about 2 weeks ago. I had 16 of 19 students take it. The other 3 were gone and I never had them make it up. I found that most students were new to Twitter. I had expected this after helping them to sign in. Most needed to create an account. Also, my suspicions of students liking Twitter were confirmed. Most students said they were either interested in using it or did not care if we used it. Only 3 said they hated using it. When I looked into this more, I found it interesting that one was a 20 year old (oldest age of student), and one was a 15 year old (youngest age of student). I can’t wait to see how they respond in the post survey after using Twitter for a while.
I feel the same way about the data collection, some days it's easier than others, but the days they have lots of questions it sure is difficult, or the days where they aren't as focused on doing what they are supposed to be doing. I, too, hope I'm not missing out on any valuable information and also hoping the data I am getting is actually going to be useful. I feel it will, it's just worrisome at the same time. I think students would like Twitter once they get used to it, but like all things, it takes some time to realize how beneficial it is and how it's easier for some of us to voice our thoughts rather than speaking in class. I wish I would've given a pre survey to my students, I didn't even think of that, I'm just giving a survey at the end of each week to see how their thoughts change over the course of the weeks, but that would've been beneficial as well. Good luck in your data collection this next week!
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