Tech at the Lake

I know a lot of people may be upset by this picture.  It was a beautiful long weekend up at the lake.  The kids hadn't seen each other all winter and here they sit, on devices (btw we don't have internet).  They should be running around.  They should be enjoying the outdoors.  They should be playing together.  All of these I'm sure are arguments from many.

They did run around.  They did enjoy the outdoors.  They played soccer; they rode their bikes; they played on the park...  It wasn't quite warm enough to swim yet. They did all the same stuff I did when I was growing up here in the spring/summer.  But when I was done running around I read, by myself.  Maybe we did crafts (I learned to macramé).

I know I may be a bit biased, but I think there is room for all of it.  And I think there are huge benefits to this.  There are 4 kids here (ranging in age from 9-12) and 3 devices.  They are playing Mine Craft.  What I saw that was "better" than the crafts we used to do:

• they shared devices around, and built on each others' worlds
• they shared knowledge - each of them was able to help the others (regardless of age or experience)
• I think they were developing problem solving, sharing and communication skills that are more transferable than my macrame skills

Added benefit:  I don't have any ugly plant hangers or owls that I have to find a place for in my house!

Barn Dwelling Macramé Owl

Photo credit: April Killingsworth, Los Angeles, USA, July 2005

from: http://www.macrameowl.com/macrame_owl_spotting.html

GAFE and feedback

The following post was written for Bear Essentials (my school’s staff weekly newsletter).  I have a regular column “On-line with Lisa.” This was a guest post written by David Harvey, and English teacher at ODSS. This post was originally written for the newsletter the week of April 12, 2013.

I am a better teacher this semester than every semester before it.  This is not hyperbole, but a direct result of using ugcloud.  ugcloud is a board-supported cloud-based (no hard drive required) service where I create documents in an excellent, auto-saving word processor (google drive), share documents with students and colleagues, and where I receive and provide feedback on all of my students’ work through our ugcloud email addresses.  When I’m working with student writing, ugcloud becomes interactive and allows me to highlight everything from specific words to particular punctuation to entire paragraphs and make corresponding comments in the side margin.  The student sees both the highlights and the comments.  When the student clicks on either the highlighted section or the comment in the margin,  the corresponding information is highlighted.  There is a very concrete and clear link between their writing and my comments.  ugcloud also allows me to make an overall comment on a piece of writing which I often do when I’m done reading it.  

My teaching has become accelerated through ugcloud as it has allowed me to give students more precise, concrete, full-sentence feedback by the mid-term than I can usually manage in an entire semester.  The interim report, which often causes me great concern due to a lack of information, caused me no stress whatsoever this year, as at that point, I’d read and thoroughly commented on 6 pieces of formative writing in my 1D class and 9 in my 4U class.  The cloud makes things more efficient and effective, and while part of this is my ability to type faster than I write, another part of this is the closing of the feedback loop.  

We know that the shorter the time is between the work and the feedback the more likely the learning and, with the cloud, students no longer have to be in class (or even in the same country) to receive feedback, nor do they have to wait for me to mark 30 pieces of work before they get theirs back.  I mark them in the order in which they’re submitted and they can watch me work with their document in real-time.  As a result of the speed of things, I have never had a clearer understanding of my students’ abilities, nor taught them each so much on such an individual basis so early in a course.  I can open up their email folders and instantly see everything they’ve written, the order in which they submitted it, all of my feedback, and then each keystroke of editing the student has made while applying their new understanding.  

This is a game-changer.  While I’ve never accepted technology as the great saviour of education - and still don’t - I’ve never discovered and used a technology with such great benefits to both myself and my students.  I haven’t collected a single piece of paper from either class this semester - not one.  More importantly,  I’ve seen a level of improvement  in their work by midterm that I usually hope to see by the end of a course.  

I’ve witnessed what I consider three legitimate educational revolutions in my 14 year career, and this is the most recent and the most powerful one in terms of what works best for me and what works best for students.