Blog Post #5 -- Melody Lam -- 3/29/2020

Tools to use in Online Instruction

Tool 1: FlipGrid

Introduction:

FlipGrid is a free online tool that allows teachers and students to make short videos on a topic in "Grids". A "Grid" is a collection of videos on a topic that a teacher assigns. Students create short, 1 minute long (or shorter) videos on the topic. For example, a teacher can assign a question such as "How would you solve this problem:" and students create videos showing how to solve the item.

Support Effective Teaching/Learning:

FlipGrid supports online teaching by allowing teachers to check up on students and make sure that students are understanding concepts. It also allows students to express themselves in verbal fashion rather than a written fashion. It fosters collaboration and discussion by allowing students to see each other's responses.

In the math and science realms, teachers can pose questions or ask students how they reasoned through a problem or have students show worked out solutions. For example, a math teacher can assign each student a problem # and that student works out their problem on video, guiding their peers. In the healthful living curriclum, students can demonstrate what they did to keep active during the week, demonstrate an exercise or possibly demonstrate a healthy meal that they ate during the week.

Tool 2: PlayPosIt

Introduction:

PlayPosIt is a tool that is very similar to EdPuzzle -- it allows for the creation of interactive videos called "bulbs" where students are questioned throughout the video. This increases engagement and retention of the video content. PlayPosIt has analytic tools that allow teachers to track student engagement with the material as well as premade "bulbs" that incorporate content from places like TEDTalks, Crash Course, and Khan Academy, allowing teachers to get started quickly.

Support Effective Teaching/Learning:

PlayPosIt is an effective tool in a online/distance learning platform. All teachers can use PlayPosIt as a way to track student engagement with a video. The questions embedded in the videos are a good way to check a student's understanding of the material they have seen, replicating a direct lecture/questioning experience that a student would have in the classroom.

The questions that can be embedded in a video range from multiple choice, to fill in the blank, to short answer or discussion, allowing a wide range of ways that a teacher can check for understanding.

Tool 3: Socrative

Introduction:

Socrative allows teachers to gauge feedback in real time through various means. Instead of simply asking a student if they understood the material, a quiz or a short mini-competition can be launched at the click of a button, allowing the teacher to gauge understanding. There are various pro features, but the free version allows for up to 50 students at a time with one activity.

Support Effective Teaching/Learning:

Socrative can be used quickly in a "live learning" session to gauge student understanding. Teachers in a science classroom, for example, can send out a link for a short quiz on anatomy quickly through a chat room (like on Google Meet) and see student responses as they come in. Students can also anonmyously "raise their hands" which can be used by the teacher to target instruction or to encourage that student to attend an office hour privately. In a health classroom, students can be grouped up and compete against each other on a vocabulary quiz, or possibly to test their "reflexes" when it comes to an activity.

What could be potential challenges of technology integration in online instruction? 

The biggest challenge I think of technology integration in online instruction is fundamental access to devices & Internet. Even in an urban sprawl like Charlotte there are places which have sporadic or no Internet access due to poverty or unwillingness of internet companies to install access points. In more rural or mountainous areas of NC, there may not be any kind of internet access (even from cell towers) due to the terrain or sparse population.

Even more fundamentally is access to devices. While in Charlotte at the MS and HS level we have one-to-one with Chromebooks, there are only so many devices to go around, and if a device breaks, it could mean that the student falls behind while the device is being repaired because of a lack of replacements. 

Along with this, with the majority of companies moving to a work from home paradigm, there has been an enormous strain on services, from Internet services to providers of services. Socrative had to pull back from its offer of pro services to everybody because their servers could not handle the influx of users on their service. Because of the influx of users on their service, they could not guarentee equitble service to everybody. Teachers need to be prepared for a backup service or backup lesson plans if a service fails.

A last challenge of technology integration would be bureaucratic red tape. Even in online settings, schools have to follow FERPA (Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act) regulations. Districts and schools must ensure that any technology that they use adheres to FERPA. For example, in Charlotte Mecklenburg Schools, all tools that teachers and staff would like to use in the classroom must go through a vetting process to ensure that student data is protected. While a tool might sound good on paper, it may have data issues that can cause a school to violate FERPA.