I
was tired of seeing students getting out of their seats to retrieve a project
packet or to go sharpen their pencils and, while on the journey back to their
seats, giving into the temptation to poke or chat it up with fellow
classmates. It’s funny how one small management issue can spark bigger
ideas. I wanted to go 100% digital. I had the technology but I wasn’t
quite sure how to begin developing the course and materials. I started with
small steps, choosing 1 unit I was already teaching and changing all
materials into accessible documents on the network drive (in the Toolbox
folder). Shortly after, I discovered a screencast program and began recording
myself teaching each lesson, something I was doing every day anyway, and
producing videos that students could watch as many times as needed. Suddenly,
the need for re-teaching dropped significantly and students were able to
access all information consistently every time; there was no more worry that
I may forget to cover a detail with one class only to forget it with another
class.
As of January 2013, my middle school classes are fully available
online and while the journey had some hiccups, it has been the most rewarding
professional experience I’ve had in my 18 years of teaching. My goal was to
create instructional materials that could be accessed from anywhere and from
any mobile device. While making materials available to the students using our
district’s Toolboxes and having students turn their work into the Dropboxes
to be graded, I discovered the Edmodo course management program and put it to
work. Not only could students access their materials for each lesson as well
as turn their work in to be graded, they could also communicate with me via
Edmodo while in class or from home. There was no reason at all for a student
to get out of their seat except for the occasional Emergency drill or to use
a hall pass.
About the time I was playing with the online course management idea and
getting things customized to be used in the course management program, a
colleague approached me with this idea called gamification. While
students were able to gain access to their instructional materials, ask
questions, receive my feedback on each assignment, and turn their work in
(all in one place), I saw a lag in meeting assignment deadlines; they needed
a push. I couldn’t have been introduced to the gamification concept at
a better time. Gamification takes elements of game play, including a reward
element, and incorporates it within the learning environment. I began
implementing student scorecards to go along with the Edmodo lessons and the
lesson calendar. Students stopped asking what they missed in my class, either
due to an absent or simply because they forgot what they had done two days
prior, and quickly learned that by checking their scorecards (a digital
kid-friendly version of a grade card) they could pick up where they left off
or know what assignment/project to tackle next. Viola! They now had the
motivation to meet the deadlines and an easy to follow gameboard which showed
them their next step. Gamification made my goal for student’s
self-directedness a rewarding reality.
During this whole transition, I began a grad program in Educational
Technology. This program was completely online. Even though I had taught
technology classes throughout my career, I was apprehensive about how I would
handle being a student in a digital environment. It goes without
saying that I wasn’t the only one to benefit from this new way of learning; I
could understand my students’ frustrations and, therefore, I developed more
compassion for their experience as online learners. I had been in their
shoes!
I felt like I needed to design a class format that worked best in my
students’ current learning environment. The work force waiting for our
students will require them to be efficient technology users. Many career
fields are relying on technology to disseminate information as well as train
workers for their specific field. Due to cost efficiency, connectivity,
and convenience, a high percentage of students will take online courses, even
at the high school level, in order to train for the job market. The 21st
century skills we’ve all talked about only scratch the surface; our digital
natives need to not only develop responsible technology skills, they must
develop intrinsic motivation and self-direction to be successful lifelong
learners and contributors to tomorrow’s work force.
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