The Peer Review Process

This is my third or fourth online class, yet it is the first time that we have done peer evaluations for assignments. I think this definitely added to the 'group feel' of the course, as web based courses are normally very impersonal. I found it helpful to be evaluated by my peers as well as by Dr. Kovalik.

I felt as if some of the peer evaluations were a little sugar coated and that the responding peer didn't feel comfortable critisizing others' work. Even so, I found that enough people were honest in their responses and critiques of assignments. These critiques helped me to see where I could have improved something or where I did a really good job. I also liked the peer review process because it gave me many different opinions on the same assignment. Most everyone commented on different strengths and weaknesses of each assignment, which was helpful.

I tried to give as much constructive criticism as possible to those classmates whose assignments I evaluated. Before I looked at someone else's work, I read back through the description of the assignment and took a look at the rubric for evaluation. I tried to base my comments off of those two things and make sure the assignment I critiqued fit the criteria in my mind.

Because of the points we were awarded for doing these peer evaluations, it made me more interested in seeing what my other classmates had done for each project. I was also able to learn from the projects that they did and the information that they covered. Without this peer review process, I don't think I would have been as interested in what my classmates were working on.

TPCK

Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge (TPCK) is the seamless integration of technology with the teaching methods that work best for students, tied together with the content knowledge that students need. In this discussion, we stressed the importance of doing this 'integration of teaching components.' These are some of the ideas I found to be most relevant for this discussion:

• A good teacher is a well rounded teacher. A teacher that is only good at one of the three components and fails to incorporate the other two will fail their students.
• No matter how intimidated we may be regarding new technology, it is in our students' best interests to keep up with it and use in in the classroom as much as possible.
• Make sure you are comfortable using technology before implementing it in the classroom and having your students use it.
• Technology can really enhance content knowledge for students.

I thought this was a great discussion. The reading gave me a good sense of what TPCK is and the discussion explored the various implications, advantages, and disadvantages. I thought the different sub-topics were well defined and helped to point the conversation in many different directions. Overall, I thought it was a great way to get us thinking about TPCK and the ways in which we can approach this in our own teaching.

Ubiquitous Computing

What is it you ask? Ubiquitous computing is technology that is everywhere, used all the time, and is so common that the 'newness' of it has worn off. Envision a classroom that is filled with wall-to-wall technology (that all works!) that is used throughout the day, every day. Students use technology so much that they are comfortable with it and it fits seamlessly with instruction, adding to the students' learning.The information for this discussion was mostly from an article written about the AT&T classroom here at Kent State University. It can be found at the following web address: http://www.rcetj.org/?type=art&id=5666. This article showcased different students and teachers that were given access to the technology filled AT&T classroom for several weeks. The related discussion covered implications for instruction, student motivation, and classroom dynamics. The most relevant ideas I can take away from this discussion are as follows:

• Technology does increase student motivation and interest.
• Technology helps make learning more student-centered. It also allows students to learn on their own terms, as opposed to learning just what the teacher tells them.
• Increased student motivation and interest may wear off if the same technology is used repeatedly or the use of technology is simply 'commonplace.'
• Use technology wisely. It always takes some time for both the teacher and student to become comfortable using new technology, but if it will really enhance a topic and you can use it again for different material, it is worth taking the time to learn it.

I thought this discussion was valuable as it got me thinking about many different ways I could incorporate technology in my own classroom. I would LOVE to have access to a learning environment such as the AT&T classroom here at Kent, however most schools do not have this luxury. I think the discussion would have been more beneficial (at least for me) if a more realistic classroom setting was shown. Throughout the subtopics, many people described what technology they use in their classroom and how they use it. I found this really helpful, as well as how we realistically discussed the implications ubiquitous computing has on the classroom dynamics.

Mobile Learning

The discussion topic for this particular week was called 'mobile learning.' Essentially, we explored the many different uses for mobile technology in the classroom. For this discussion, we mainly focused on cell phones as the relevant mobile technology.

This discussion focused on the positive and negative aspects of using cell phones in the classroom, ways in which to incorporate cell phones in classroom instruction, obstacles, and issues. I learned a lot from this discussion and it opened my eyes to possibly incorporating mobile technology in my classroom. The following points are the most important things I took from this discussion:

• Using cell phones in the classroom may 'open a can of worms' as the saying goes. You run the risk of students abusing them and misusing them.
• Students love to use their cell phones! By incorporating this technology into instruction, students will hopefully be interested in and motivated by the subject matter and activities.
• Cell phones can be a good way for students to communicate quickly with eachother or the teacher. In turn, responses are quicker, leading (hopefully) to increased productivity.
• If cell phones are incorporated into classroom instruction or assignments, clear guidelines and boundaries need to be established ahead of time.
• Most importantly, cell phones are the means of communication for almost everyone! Teachers need to keep up with technology, and this type of technology is not going to disappear anytime in the near future.

Overall, I thought this was a great discussion. The topic is relevant and the comments that everyone made were thoughtful and insighful. Issues were brought up that I hadn't necessarily thought of (cell phones being used to record teachers- when they are unaware of being recorded) and the ideas for implementing cell phones in the classroom were cool.

The only suggestion I have for this discussion would be to provide more examples of ways to use cell phones in the classroom. We came up with a plethora of reasons why cell phones can be a challenge, but I think that some more realistic ideas would be helpful.

Critique of Presentation Software

Before posting to this discussion, we read and watched various items relating specifically to PowerPoint presentations. These items gave us some guidelines for creating a 'good' presentation, as well as some things to avoid. By reading and watching the material related to this discussion, as well as participating in the discussion itself, I learned so much about PowerPoint!

• When using PowerPoint, it is best to keep things simple. Many people have a tendency to write everything they want to say on the actual slides. This leaves the audience wondering why they need a presenter when they could have simply been handed the slides to read themselves. This also leads to a very boring presentation as the audience can read print much faster than we can read it aloud.
• Presenters should always put themselves in the shoes of the audience, and ask "What's in it for me? Why should I listen to what you have to say?" If you cannot answer these questions or come up with a good enough response- scratch the presentation! Okay maybe not scratch the presentation, but seriously re-think it.
• Pictures can really step your presentation up a notch. If your presentation is visually appealing, your audience will be more interested in what you have to say.
• If possible, make your presentation interactive. Present some information or an idea and then have the audience do some activity. If this is not possible, at least change gears- i.e. don't stand up and talk for 20 minutes straight! Present an idea and then get audience feedback or watch a video clip.

I found the reading material and discussion to be extremely helpful and valuable. I have never created a powerpoint of my own until this semester, and I used many of the suggestions to hopefully make mine a good one. I think it all comes back to putting yourself in the shoes of your audience. Keep them in mind: What do they want to know? What would make this more interesting for them? What do I want them to know? How can I best communicate this information?

The only critique I have is that some of the discussions within the sub-topics ran together. It seemed as if the discussions on 'making the best use of powerpoint' and 'characteristics of good presentations' really talked about the same things. I feel like there could have been one or two fewer sub-topics, or the related questions could have been more more clearly defined so as not to overlap material and conversations. I did, however, really like the subtopic about 'how else can we use powerpoint?' I found this to be really interesting and enjoyed learning how others use this technology.