Weekly surveys

After each of my classes in eLive, I ask my students to fill out a quick Qualtrics survey. It's easy to make a new copy each week and post it to the announcements. Here are my survey questions:

1. When did you feel most engaged in class tonight?
2. When did you fee most distanced in class tonight?
3. What about the activities and materials used tonight surprised you the most?
4. When did you feel most engaged with the homework?
5. How much time did it take to do the homework?
6. Add any other comments here.

I have found out that my students in EDFN302, Educational Technology, consistently like the small group conversations in the breakout rooms. They have been surprised at how interactive our eLivesessions are and have given me some good feedback on how my teaching can be improved. I post the survey result in Blackboard so they can see what the group is thinking. Many of them read the results and learn that for the most part, they share some common likes.

Common Craft Videos

In my Ed Tech class at some point I feel that I have to address tech skills. It sort of goes with the territory. I do a survey at the beginning of the semester to see where they are at. There is usually a range. My favorite activity to improve their tech expertise is to have them watch theCommonCraft videos on technology. I let the students select 4 to watch and they often watch more than the four. It's fun to read their discussion board posts on the experience of watching the videos.

I appreciate the CC videos on security issues: passwords, phishing, keeping your computer secure. These help people become responsible digital citizens. And since we are working toward using educational technologies in the classroom, understanding the Web 2.0 tools such as podcasting, RSS, and social bookmarking are good to learn about.

This assignment also models differentiated instruction and giving choice in learning activities, while providing a basic structure.

Final Word Protocol in eLive

We used the Final Word protocol in breakout rooms this week. It worked really well. The students liked interacting with their book this way, liked hearing the different parts of the reading that each student picked, liked the structure in which each student had a voice (and the talkers had a time limit and the quiet ones had space). I modeled our version after the National School Reform Faculty protocol. In general, the students love the discussion time in small groups in eLive, so I try to find different formats for them to use. Last week we did a think-pair-share (one of those Kagan structures). Now my appetite is whetted to find more ways for us to interact in small groups in eLive that can also model what they might do in their classroo

Breakout Rooms in eLive

I use breakout rooms regularly in my eLive classes. In a 2½ hour class, we may go to breakout rooms 2-3 times for small group discussions. I have sometimes assigned a note taker and a facilitator and sometimes let the students choose how to manage their tasks in the breakout rooms. The feedback from students is that they are very engaged in the class during these activities.

It’s pretty easy to send a whiteboard to the break out room to guide their conversation: a chart to fill in, a list of questions to answer, etc. I monitor the discussions by watching the whiteboards in Explore Screens and by visiting the breakout rooms. I also glance at the participant list to see who’s talking (glowing microphone). It’s easy to bring the whiteboards back to the main room for discussion or reporting.

Here’s a video on moving whiteboards to and from the breakout rooms. To send a whiteboard to the breakout rooms: right click on the whiteboard, select Current Screen from the menu, select Copy Screen to Breakout Rooms from submenu. To copy whiteboards from the breakout rooms back to the main room, right click in the participant window and select Copy All Whiteboards to Main Room.