•How effective were your actions in helping you meet your goals?
In trying to Design and Develop Digital-Age Learning Experiences and Assessments, I have been able to request technology be ordered for me. An LCD projector, ELMO (document camera), and a class set of Qwizdom have been ordered. While I am waiting for the items to come I am able to utilize another teacher's set for 2 of my classes.
Qwizdom allows me to assess students before, during, and after lessons. By making the lessons more interactive due to requiring students to respond to questions during lessons, I will be exposing the kids to digital-age learning experiences.
In expanding my professional growth, the very act of asking for a set of Qwizdom has opened the door for other Academy teachers to buy into the program since the deal is buy one and get the second half off. That means as I learn the program I will be asked to teach the program to other teachers.
•What have you learned so far that you can apply in your instructional practice?
I have learned that I can take the embedded assessments and upload them to Qwizdom. I will be able to have students sequence events, choose multiple answers that apply to a questions, choose true or false, yes or no, and also multiple choice type questions. I read through the manual in order to understand what it is capable of and as I was reading I jotted down some ideas of how I could use it.
When I was in the lead Academy teacher's room asking for and LCD projector and ELMO, she asked what I would use it for. I explained all the different things that can be done so she has asked me to teach her how to more effectively use the projector and document camera she has.
•What do you still have to learn? What new questions have arisen?
The big thing I still have to learn is how to apply my knowledge from reading the manual to actually creating the lessons. I know we have the software, so I just have to figure out how many computers I am able to load the software onto so I know if I have to create all the lessons at school or if I will also be able to create lessons on my computer at home. Then I have to learn how to make the system work for me. Since the 2 periods I will be using Qwizdom with already use Qwizdom in their Biology class, I will have to figure out if their information is available to transfer or if I have to type in each student and their ID code.
For professional development, I still have to learn what model ELMO and projector are used by my peers as well as what is being ordered for me so I know what the differences are.
•How will you adjust your plan to fit your current needs?
I am adjusting the Unit Plan of 3 lessons by designing lessons that will utilize Qwizdom. That way I will be making progress not only on a goal, but also on a class assignment. Originally, my plan was to take one lesson from each chapter and incorporate technology. Now my plan is to specifically incorporate Qwizdom, since Qwizdom can be designed for use with and without the handheld devices.
Since the current needs are to teach my peers how to use the LCD projector and ELMO more effectively, I will be reviewing the manuals and teaching them how to use those items prior to attending the conference.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Posts
Kari,
ReplyDeleteIt sounds like you have opened the doors to incorporating technology into your classroom, efficiently. I am curious about the Qwizdom. I have no experience with it but if you are like me the only way to learn is by actual hands on hands experience. You should embrace the fact that those two periods that use it in Biology have experience with it and maybe play off of their knowledge. How excited were you when your colleagues became interested in the program also? That is great. Keep up the good work.
Ty
Kari,
ReplyDeleteI can only imagine the struggle in switching from elementary to high school. It sounds like you have embraced integrating technology into your instruction and assessment methods.
I have been researching different styles of student response systems. Qwizdom is a new program for me. I am really interested in a couple things you mentioned. First, You mentioned being able to upload embedded assessments into Qwizdom. Are these assessments provide with your curriculum? Secondly, you mentioned Qwizdom could be used with or without the handheld devices. If the students do not have the handheld devices to interact with, are they able to interact with an interactive whiteboard (such as a SMARTBoard)? Lastly, I teach several periods of the same course back to back and would like to use the student response system each period. How is the ease of use with Qwizdom when needing to switch from period to period in 5 minutes? Is each student in a period assigned a specific clicker? I am really interested in what you would like to share.
Again, thank you for mentioning this new style of student response systems. I will be adding it to my list to research.
Anna
Anna,
ReplyDeleteI don't have the answers to all of your questions since I haven't implemented it yet, but after reading the manual, I do know some of the answers.
The embedded assessments are part of my curriculum. They are all hard copies as well as pdf files on a cd. From my reading, it is simple to upload any document into Qwizdom. Some of the documents are half a page of reading with 2-3 questions. I didn't feel I could justify printing them and the print was too small to show on the tv and allow any students not in the front row to read.
As far as how students are able to interact with Qwizdom, I'm not sure about the SMARTBoard feature. I know you can set Qwizdom up to act similar to a PowerPoint so you can lecture or you can make it interactive. Sometimes we need to just deliver information and it's not necessary for the students to interact.
My understanding of the clickers is that any student can pick up any clicker and just type in his/her student id to activate it.
As far as switching from period to period, the Qwizdom response systems allow you to set up the presentation so that students have so many minutes to log in (each student has to have a unique id: you can't have a 189 in both 4th and 5th period) and when you create the presentation you have several options. One option allows the correct answer to be displayed on the student device once they give their answer. Another feature is you can set the student systems to turn off automatically at the end of the presentation. Then when your next period walks in, you go to the beginning of the preentation and they have so many minutes to log in. You can track attendance and there is a list that you can view to see who has and has not signed in.
I'm excited about being able to integrate it into my lessons.
Kari
Kari,
ReplyDeleteImplementing Qwizdom in your classes sounds very exciting. As you mention, being able to immediately assess your students before, during, and after lessons will be make it so much easier to determine what they know, how much they've learned, and what will need to be retaught in a more timely fashion. I'm hoping to share the information about Quizdom and some of the other various student response systems with my administration during my presentation this summer. I'm anxious to see how it works for you.
Good luck with its implementation!
Thanks for sharing!
Regina
Kari,
ReplyDeleteI am impressed with all that you have been able to do with technology. The ELMO is a neat thing because you are able to share students work and other handouts to the entire class. I am not sure what Qwizdom that you mention. I am sure that it allows you to allow students to become successful in class. You brought some excellent technology to the forefront of your classroom and school. Great Job.
Michael Thomas
Ty, Anna, Regina, and Michael,
ReplyDeleteThanks for the support! I am excited to try this out. I am like you Ty in that I need to get hands on experience and just use them to figure them out. I learned a lot from the manual because that's all I had. Otherwise, I would have just experiemented with them until I figured them out. I had to take notes as I read through the manual because just reading about something does not make it stick. I'm a visual kinesthetic learner so the act of taking notes helps me when I can't actually see something and manipulate it myself.
As I put them to work in my classroom I'll let you know how they work for me.
~Kari