Another Observation on iPads in Teaching and Technology

As I spend more time with the iPad in my teaching and consultations with faculty there is another observation to be made.  In addition to the iPad changing the dynamics of the interaction between a faculty member and myself working on how to include technology in their class, the iPad can make managing technology in the classroom easier.  Going back to last semester, a faculty member teaching econ in one of our Center's classrooms asked "can you turn off the internet?"  The instructor was having their students use laptops to teach how to use Excel.  They noticed, as did I when walking behind the students in the class, that a good portion of the students were online with a myriad of web sites.  I worked with the instructor to structure the exercises with Excel so that there were periods when the laptops could be closed and then reopened during class.

When I worked with my iPad in class the other day, I realized managing either an online exercise or any activity utilizing a computer would be made easier.  Having the ability to see what is being done on the iPad without a laptop screen to hide behind nor the ability to easily conceal what is happening under the classroom table, a la a smartphone.  The nature of the iPad is to share what is on the screen.  More to what I mentioned in my last post.  Easily seeing what everyone is doing on the computers allows the instructor (even one that is fairly stationary while during their work) to manage the technology with a minimum of impacts to the way the class operates.  Perhaps no more turning off of the internet.

Now onto connecting the iPad into the classroom.

Experiences with an iPad - Transforming a Learning Moment

The iPad completely changed my recent experience consulting with a faculty member on her upcoming course.  Let me preface this with a statement: I don't work for Apple although I do think they create interesting products.  At our Center, we support both of the commonly used platforms.  All that being said, I am going to try and share my interpretation of a discussion I had earlier this week with an instructor about further developing and supporting her course.

As the brainstorming session progressed, the instructor mentioned a nature preserve near downtown Atlanta where her students were going to do some exercises.  I was unfamiliar with the location so I placed my iPad in between us and asked her to show me where this place was.  Immediately, she was navigating the map, zooming in and out to locate the preserve.  We could see the trails and the garden within the preserve where her student were going to learn about sustainability and nutrition. Then, as the discussion continued, she talked about a local group who was going to help with audio and video projects the students were creating about their neighborhood. We used the iPad go to the site and learn more about the equipment the group could offer her students so that we could continue the assistance when they came back to campus.

Finally, the discussion moved to what types of audio and video recording devices the instructor might get access to for the students to continue work outside the classroom.  We used the iPad to go online and compare and contrast the capabilities of the devices as well as their availability for her class' time frame.  Then, we talked  about a technology for her to create a repository of her student's work throughout the course and used the iPad to run through a wiki and explain the process of creating an online collaborative space.

The one thing you can see from the story so far is that "we" has been used more than any other single word.  This, I believe, is do to the iPad.  Previously, during a discussion with an instructor, we would use a large display screen and CPU.  Even with a wireless keyboard, more of our attention was fixed on the screen (that I controlled with the keyboard), not on each other to a greater degree.  If I turned the keyboard over to the other person to show something, it was like I was giving them something owned by our Center. Much like I was being kind enough to share "our" computer.  In addition to this, the first question was always "Is this a PC or Mac?"  Using this type of technology still come with "barriers" and what I perceive as a teacher-learner environment.

Even with a SmartBoard, I still feel as though there must be a learning barrier to get over before interacting with the content on the screen.  Interactive as it is, there is still a hesitancy to freely touch.  Perhaps this is because the display is so large that others might see any mistakes, or maybe the "our" equipment issue weighs more than the interactive nature of the equipment.  These feelings still exist if we meet in a semi-private area like our Center's Teaching Theatre.

With the iPad, the feeling was more like the instructor and I were learning and exploring together.  The interface of the iPad removes any steep learning curves.  The iPad screen is large enough for us to look together.  I easily shared my iPad (simply by scooting it a little closer to the faculty member) and asking them to show me what they were planning to include in the course.  It seemed as though all the barriers, either actual or perceived, were gone.  There was much more of a working together by using the iPad than if I had used my laptop.  With a laptop, there is still a barrier of the screen as well as a stronger issue of this is "my" computer that I happen to be sharing with you.  With the iPad we could seamlessly hand-off and share a screen better suited for us (two of us).  I felt it changed the feel of the entire discussion  and removed any "I am the tech guy and your the teacher" feelings.  As I said earlier, with the iPad, we were exploring, learning together.  Our attention was on each other and the discussion, not the technology (this only after the initial "Oh boy, and iPad moment).

How one deals with others on a personal level of course plays an equally important role.  However, I can't stop thinking about how this learning moment was positively impacted by the iPad.  How I could not have developed that type of exchange with any of the other technology in our Center.  My goal now is to see how it might change other teaching/learning moments between faculty, students and staff.  Obviously it is not the solution for all of these types of exchanges, but I intend to capture and assess for which types of learning it works best.

Google vs. the CMS

With the announcement of Google's CloudCourse (http://bit.ly/dc0FiY), can we now make the logical connections to the other elements of the Google "suite" and a cloud CMS/LMS?  Blending Docs, GMail and Groups with CloudCourse could produce a very full-featured, user-customizable online course management system.  The multi-million dollar CMS/LMS business might make a real move to the cloud and therefore more fully supporting anytime, anywhere learning.  There remains a little way to go, but IMHO this latest move by Google allows for an end to be in sight.  Only a few steps left to bring it all together.

Do we need to keep our hands on the Twitter brake in the classroom?

Using Twitter to extend the discussion outside of the classroom can be a double-edged sword (as can many other pedagogical techniques).  Yes, I do include Twitter as a teaching tool.  The question is how to gauge the use of Twitter so that is does support the discussion of in-class topics outside of the classroom walls.  Twitter can just as easily be a distraction as a help.  Several faculty have requested we look into some way to continue a conversation, topic, exchange of thoughts even after the class period is over.  I fully realize that faculty can easily overwhelm students with outside the class "activities."  We are always working with faculty to help them appreciate how much time it takes to participate in successful online forums.  However, Twitter might be a different type of animal.

This Digital Citizenship Thing is Ever Growing

We are working on developing a comprehensive initiative on digital citizenship as it relates to teaching and learning. Several of the key folks throughout our campus are already involved in a discussion. Although there are some people in higher education (actually more than a handful) who have done work on digital scholarship and what it is to be a "citizen" of our increasingly digital world, there are not too many looking into integrating a set of core ideals/practices into all sides of the teaching/learning/support equation. I will share what we end up with.

Social Media and Publishing

Check out the following article on social media.

http://richardstacy.com/2009/05/07/the-sanctity-of-publication/

Hypothetical Mash-up for Teaching

As part of the discussion during the seminar we are teaching with a wonderful group of post-docs from the FIRST program, a question was presented about an instructor's ability to annotate (comment and mark-up) student assignments on blogs. One possible solution is to use diigo to comment on the student's blogs and then to share them with each student and with the class. This mash-up might actually work. Now all I need is for this group of instructors to use this in their classes and report back on the success (or lack thereof) of these tools.

from Knowledgeable to Knowledge-able

"Managing" technology in the classroom (mediascape). Creating students that are knowledge-able is a key to the future of learning. What about creating, or molding faculty into knowledge-able. This is a part of the presentation by
Michael Wesch, Assistant Professor of Cultural Anthropology, Kansas State University given at ELI 2009. You can read more excerpts at the Digital Ethnography blog from Kansas State University (http://mediatedcultures.net).

ELI 2009 Meeting Discussions

An interesting blog discussion regarding if the blog is dead? Take a look - http://eli2009.wordpress.com/. Is it true that the only "good" blog is not a Blackboard tool? Can't the CMS-based systems be used as a level (if it is the correct learning curve) to the "cool" outside open-platform systems?

Track Experiences in ECIT

Over the past year Brian Croxall was ECIT's Woodruff Fellow. Brian's activities including his experiences with technology and pedagogy (including experimenting with a handful of funky technologies) can be read about on the blog he created.

http://ecitadventures.blogspot.com/

To clicker or not to clicker, that is the question

Can we change the idea of using clickers, or PRS (personal response systems) in a class of 200 students to instructors thinking that using clickers is a viable way to increase interaction and student engagement?

How much collaboration is enough?

Collaboration is and has been "all the rage" in learning and instructional technologies are playing a larger role in the activity. There are many studies on both the physical space and the digital applications that support collaboration - specifically, in higher education. How can better identify how the physical and the virtual fit together to promote collaboration between students, between teachers, and between researchers?

Teaching and learning with, or without technology

Engagement vs. entertainment - Are they different?

Questions from NLII

Is our (Instructional Technology partners) job to bring faculty who are using IT together and facilitate experiencial learning among faculty? How can we “guide” the learning?

The Multi-Million Dollar Question

How about starting with the age-old question regarding tehnology and teaching. Is all this technology, and the costs involved in supporting them, making a difference in today's teaching? For all that we (those involved in instructional technology) try, there remain few statistically significant studies showing how much better technology has made the teaching and learning process. There are lots of people who say it does, but few with real numbers supporting their claim. Hopefully, this blog will be a place where the ideas of more or less technology in teaching get their day in the sun.