Cycle One begins - new students

The new semester has begun and I will be conducting my Action Research Project with the Computer Application students at my school.

The class consists of 19 students: 2 Seniors, 2 Juniors, 2 Sophomores, and 13 freshmen. This is a unique cross-section of students for this class - I have never had so many freshmen in the class before and the class is smaller than usual. Overall, there are 12 boys and 7 girls.

I will be conducting a survey next week of their computer skills but by the results of the assignment given when I was absent, these students already have good formatting skills in Word.

The assignment was a way to introduce themselves.

• The Word document title was: I Am The One Who ...
• Then then created a bulleted list of attributes about themselves, such as: has blond hair, who plays soccer, who loves to read Harry Potter, etc..
• The end states: I am ... "name".

The students formatted the document with different fonts, colors, sizes. The end results were very creative and revealing about their personalities. It was a great way to introduce each other.

Since the make up of this group is pretty unique, I feel that I need to spend some extra time developing camaraderie among the students. They are going to be doing group projects so I will spend some time working on class environment and communication among the students. I have introduced Moodle to the students and have posted some fun discussion boards to encourage postings and discussions.

Observation - Take this project seriously ...

The Problem:
Whenever I need to tell a student to "take their project seriously - this isn't entertainment" I know that the student IS NOT engaged in an authentic project. Too often I see my students "having fun" with their assignments. To me this means that they are bored with the assignment and as a way to entertain themselves they add silly or humerous aspects to their projects as a way to engage their friends to look at their projects.

The Assignment:

The students could choose between two concepts for their final project in Computer Applications class:

• One was to create an original business and make a business plan and use PowerPoint to describe the various aspects of the business. The technical skills included: Using the slide master to create an original template, integrating Word outlines and PowerPoint, using a variety of layouts to include charts, diagrams, and text, and basic animations. The content focus was to write in a persuasive way to accuarate describe the business and engage the reader to explore the various aspects of the business.
• The other project choice was to create a PowerPoint to review course material from another class to help students prepare for their final exams. The technical skills included: Using the slide master to create an original template, integrating Word outlines and PowerPoint, using a variety of layouts to include charts, diagrams, and text, and basic animations. The content focus was on explaining (and/or testing) content material in a clear and accurate manner.

Students were encouraged to make the PowerPoint presentations engaging and interactive by using "action buttons" in the presentation so that the view was actively engaged in moving through the project instead of passively sitting back and watching the presentations.

The Results:
Students who chose the course review project seemed to take the assignment more seriously than the students who "made up" the business plan. Their projects were focused on the content material and their goal was to make a presentation that would actually help a classmate review for the upcoming final exam. Many also included short quizzes that asked the student to choose the correct answer.

Two of the students who made the business plan had to change their original idea because the business they chose wasn't appropriate for the project.

While most of the students liked their business topics and were engaged in their PowerPoint topic, I felt that several students thought the assingment was silly and did not seem engaged in their project. It wasn't until the end of the assignment and students went around to each other's computers to view the projects that some students commented that some projects were better than others because they had a purpose or were well made.

One student in particular engaged many students in his project because of the high-interest topic (a travel business that focused on James Bond movies) and the visual "eye candy" of his presenations (music, video and photos from the movies).

Conclusion:
This outcome of these projects has shown me that students NEED an authentic audience in projects otherwise the students don't see the purpose or value in what they are doing. Even though the assignment was a simulation - it still felt "fake" - and the some of the students were not engaged in the project or they were engaged but the quality of the project was poor.

The challenge is to create open-ended projects that are authentic, but still at the same time meet the technology goals of the class.

Observation - Lecturing vs. Doing

The Problem:
It is getting to the end of the term and I am running out of time. I still have several skills that I want the students to be able to do for their final projects but I haven't had time to cover yet. This quarter is one week shorter than the first and Food Drive and holiday events have cut into my class time. I normally give students an opportunity to practice several PowerPoint skills before they are required to use them on their final projects but I am short on time. What to do ....?

The Solution:
I am not completely happy with my solution but I have decided to have my students make a PowerPoint presentation about "How to make an effective PowerPoint presenation". This will give me opportunity to "teach" some skills ABOUT PowerPoint and the students will include this information in their projects. They will also get a chance to PRACTICE some of the skills in the project at the same time.

The Result:
At first the students seemed to like the idea that they were making their own tutorial about how to use PowerPoint. They like learning how to make screenshot to show examples of what they were writing about. But after 5 days of repeating the same thing over and over again, I could tell that some of the student were getting bored with the material. I am guilty of trying to cram too many concepts into one lesson. I should have just chosen 2-3 unique skills (ie: varying slide layouts, using the slide master, and features of custom animation) and let the students "discover" many of the other skills on their own.

I fall into the habit too often that if I don't teach it to them - they won't discover the information. I really need to embrace the constructivist point of view and create an environment where my students can discover and explore various elements of technology skills and provide them with guidance and resources to uncover the information. My mantra needs to be "guide on the side" not "sage on the stage".

Gathering Evidence: SurveyMonkey.com

The Problem:
I want to survey the students about their opinions and attitudes about the current Computer Applications course, but I don't want to feel that they can't be honest with their answers if I can tell who wrote what. I was thinking of asking another teacher to help administer a survey or interview specific students.

The Solution:
Wendy suggested using an online survey. She recommended a website called SurveyMonkey.com. I created a free account with SurveyMonkey that allowed me to make a 10 question survey and assess to the results. My questions included:

1. What year are you?
2. Do you think the keyboarding practice this term has been helpful?
3. Which WORD assignment was he most beneficial?
4. Describe your overall impressions of the assignments from the Office 2003 TEXTBOOK.
5. Describe your overall impressions of the group projects.
6. Which EXCEL skills did you find the most beneficial?
7. On a scale of 1-5 rate your teacher on the following items: knowledge of curriculum, being prepared for class, available for help, willingness to assist you when asked, feedback given to you about your progress, ability to teach new skills, friendliness, and overall impression.
8. What suggestions do you have for the types of lessons for this class in the future?
9. What recommendations do you have for the teacher of how she could teach this class differently in the future?
10. Would you recommend this class to another student? Why or why not?

The Results:
The students seem to like the online survey and all 17 students who were present that day answered all the questions.

The general feedback that I received was:

• There was mixed reviews about the assignments from the textbook. Some liked the step by step instructions - others thought they were boring.
• Most students like working in the group projects.
• Students recommended skipping some of the easier skills and focus on the harder skills, more projects - but many were happy with the content of the skills.
• The teacher evaluation revealed that students wanted more feedback on their progress but that the teacher knew her material well.
• Students recommended the class for others to take and the overall rating of the class was good.

I like using SurveyMonkey for the evaluation. I felt like the students were honest (it seemed that only 1 student was unhappy with the class!) but at the same time the survey wasn't too long or cumbersome for them to fill out. Almost every student wrote a comment when given the opportunity to do so.

Observation - Review Assignments

Activity:

Today students are working on written review questions to prepare for a Unit Test in Excel. Students were given 12 questions to answer and a 3 page Excel Review packet to refer to. Students typed their answers to the questions in Word. Minimal instructions were given.

Observation:

• For the most part, students began on the assignment right away.
• There were two Korean students who needed more encouragement to get started and stay on task (and stop talking).
• There was minimal interaction between students, except for the occasional student who asked their friend for help with the answers. Towards the end of the period there was a few more students seeking assistance from classmates.
• Most of the answers to the questions were located on the review packet and involved basic recall and locating the answer.
• Only two of the questions required synthesis of understanding.
• Only two students asked for clarification of questions from the teacher (21 students present today). There was little interaction between students and the teacher.
• The first student finished in 17 minutes.
• When students finished the assignment, several surfed the Internet, some visited with each other, two went to the restroom, and one student worked on homework for another class.
• All but 7 students finished the assignment during the 45 minute period.

Results:

The average class score for the assignment was 91%.

19 out of 21 students turned in the assignment. (The 2 exchange students did not complete the assignment on time and when they eventually did show it to me - it was incomplete and did not show understanding of the concepts)