Ms Professor B

The future of technology looks bright, and things are progressing quickly, but sometimes it isn’t moving fast enough for me. A friend once commented that she couldn’t wait to have a computer chip in her brain. She explained, “Imagine downloading a new language in your brain and being fluent in a matter of minutes.” To that extent it’s a bit scary (think Terminator scary), but I understand what she means. It’s when I think of everything I want to do in relationship to everything I need to do that I wish I had more technology to help. At these moments, I need to multitask.

It was today while I had a bad headache and couldn’t focus on the computer screen that I wished the essays would grade themselves or at the very least have them read to me so I could comment on them. This worked well when my mother was here this summer. It wasn’t student papers then, but it was an article I had to read for a class I was taking. My mother and I were driving to Manville for some family research (another story told on another blog), and I was stressed about getting everything done. She read the article to me and I had her highlight some thoughts and had her write notes in the margins. We even discussed the points, which really helped with the essay I had to write eventually.

With this experience in mind, I searched my computer and discovered the speech recognition software already available in Windows Vista. I have been wishing for a program to type what I say so I can compose while I’m cooking (another favorite pass time). Of course, it's been out there for years, but I'm just now figuring out the benefits of speech recognition and multitasking! Of course, it's not perfect and it won't discuss the issues with me, but it can read it to me and make changes at my request while my hands are busy doing something else (like chopping garlic at this moment). I will also have to spend some time editing the mistakes. Is multitasking worth it? I'm not sure. I'll let you know as soon as my pie comes out of the oven. If it tastes bad, then I was too distracted talking into the computer. Multitasking is good, but sometimes it can be a disaster.

Another downfall is that this does not seem to work with GradeMark. The program is not recognized, so at this point it won't help with my grading, but if you use the Track Changes feature in Word, you're in luck (this involves using the speech recognition and the narrator).

If you have Windows Vista, you already have this program. It's under "Accessories" - "Ease of Access" and "Speech Recognition." Narrator is there, too. Mac Speech is available for the Mac. Windows 7 has speech recognition as well. A quick YouTube search reveals several videos demonstrating it. I would hope it's improved in Windows 7, but that will have to wait for me. I have other priorities at the moment (like planning a wedding).

For now, I’m playing with it and will, perhaps, find a way to write my class notes while creating my culinary masterpieces! I hope that I can also blog more often--hands free. The next step is to figure out why it doesn't work with GradeMark. If I can make it work with GradeMark, and make grading essays more fun by using technology, then I’m going to do that. Using Turnitin with GradeMark already helps, but using speech recognition takes it a step further.

If you use speech recognition in teaching or grading, let me know. By the way, the pie was delicious!

It happened one day when a friend sent a tweet that read, "I used crowdsourcing in my Calculus class and it's the best thing I've ever done." I had no idea what she was talking about, so I did a Google search.

Crowdsourcing is a business term similar to outsourcing, but not exactly. It's like letting the customers do the work rather than hiring someone. The customers help create new and interesting ideas. In particular, it seems to work these days in technology by posting a particular problem on the Web and the conversation begins with possible solutions. It's like having the world for collaborators.

Within my search about crowdsourcing, I discovered Cathy Davidson's article about how she is planning to use crowdsourcing in her English course: This is your Brain on the Internet. Her first sentence captured me (just like any good article should): "I loved returning to teaching...except for the grading." Like her, I hate grading. The feedback is the most useful part for students, but the dreaded grade is like a punch in the stomach to the students, and most only look at the grade and don't care about the comments. But the comments are what matter!! It's that part of grading I don't mind. I just wish I didn't have to judge their writing or make an evaluation.

In the past, I tried several ways to prevent this stomach punching: portfolios, allowing continuous revising, etc., but this created more of what I hated: too much paper grading! I ended up not giving the essays as much attention as they deserved. I went back to the old way, then, and just had to "suck it up."

Now I have some hope for the revision process that must be present in all writing, but that all students seem to want to ignore. Davidson's article inspired me. Now, I'm not saying I completely agree with her grading scale: "Do all the work (and there is a lot of work), and you get an A. Don't need an A? Don't have time to do all the work? No problem. You can aim for and earn a B. There will be a chart." This seems simple enough; however, I think that students should be awarded for quality and not just quantity. Besides, I'm not much for making charts.

Instead, I will use a process I already use: peer review. Peer review has its own controversy. I hear it from my students most: "If I don't know what I'm doing, how can I expect my classmates to know? How can they help me?" Of course, they don't really get the point of peer review: getting and receiving feedback while learning about critical reading and thinking, and it must be directed very clearly for it to truly work (That's another blog someday...), but nevertheless, I use it and will continue using it.

So, taking what I know (peer review) with Davidson's slant (crowdsourcing), I have decided on using peer review twice and the drafts will be worth more points than they used to be. For example, 50% of the grade comes from the peers (which they will conduct using a very detailed review process and a rating scale); the other 50% comes from me. The peer review will be conducted using Write Cycle from Turnitin and the essays will be dispersed across several sections and conducted anonymously so students won't be able to make any deals with their friends. Yes, I'm sure there will be ways to know whose paper they have, but the process is random as well, so the chances of friends reading friends' essays are slim (especially when this is dispersed across 2 sections of composition with at least 40 students in all). Will this work? Once again, I'll have to let you know--just like Davidson will--but I have hope.

A colleague commented that Davidson really isn't inventing anything new: it just has a new fancy name. Maybe he's right, but at least she helped point me in a more creative direction than where I was headed.

As I'm taking an online class this summer, I was thinking about new ways to teach research. My students seem to have lost their natural curiosity about life around them, so it's been difficult to get them to find interesting subjects they'd want to research.

In the past I'd ask them to write down at least five questions that they'd always wanted answered or that they were curious about. These turned out some interesting questions, but some of them were just silly (e.g. "Why do birds suddenly appear every time you are near," etc.) or unanswerable (e.g. "What is the meaning of life?"). I helped them analyze their questions and asked if it would be something they could research in the library. This helped a bit, but for some it curbed their enthusiasm.

During my class, we've been reading several interesting case studies such as information about where the refrigerator got its hum; when the horse was introduced to Native Americans and how they adapted them to their needs; and why 'Kindergarten' was invented. I thought that these would be interesting questions for students to research. They would be different than the typical topics like abortion, global warming, gun control, yada, yada, yada...

My plan is to create a list of questions such as these and have my students conduct in-class research. I'll have them first work in small groups searching for the information on the Web. They will find that the answers are difficult to find and that some sources have different information than others and they'll need to decide how to resolve it.

This is as far as I've thought about the logistics, but my hope is that it will spark some curiosity in them and they'll really want to find the answers so they'll struggle through the frustrating and interesting research process.

I'll keep you updated!
Ms. B.

I have compiled a list of resources (online and software) for Distance Educators. This is for the Wyoming Distance Education Consortium Conference, which was held in Casper this week. Thank you to Liz for her help in developing these resources.

Resources for Navigating the “Sharky” Waters:
Successful Surfing of the Learner-Centered Wave

Presentation by Keri Bjorklund and Liz Skrabacz Dzabic WyDEC 2009

Web Resources

www.universityreviewsonline.com/2005/10/100-most-inspiring-and-innovative-blogs-for-educators.html A review of the 100 best education sources on the Net.

http://teachingcollegemath.com/ A blog on teaching college math using current technology trends.

http://msprofessorb.blogspot.com/ A blog on teaching composition and literature—keeps track of current technology trends & discussion on instructional technology.

www.sightspeed.com A free video conferencing site by Logitech Inc. similar to Skype.

www.edutopia.org “The George Lucas Educational Foundation.” Free lesson plans and material—advertises for public education, but there is still some useful material here.

www.gabcast.com Free voice recording using toll free numbers. Great for students lacking high tech recording systems and needing to create sound files.

www.polleverywhere.com An answer to the expensive classroom clickers. Students respond to polls, discussion questions, etc. using texting, twittering, and other devices.

www.blogger.com A site to create your own educational blog. It can be an addition to lectures or additional resources or discussion for students…and it can be reused.

http://cla.calpoly.edu/~jrubba/policies/Grdg.standards.html A site through California Polytechnic State University that explains what a grade means as a way to fight grade inflation.

Software

http://exelearning.org SCORM creation software.

www.techsmith.com (Jing & Screencast) Jing is a free screen capture software. Created by the makers of Camtasia, it is a stable option for when Camtasia is outside the budget. It does the same thing and a screencast membership comes free with Jing. Screencast is a way to easily store and share screen capture videos and images.

www.skype.com The free long distance phone service using the computer. This can be a way for students to contact their instructors without incurring long distance charges. Can also be used with video and conferencing software.

http://freemind.sourceforge.net/wiki/index.php/Download (Freemind software) Mind mapping software: an option other than Power Point for presentations, and a useful study tool for students.
www.mindomo.com Mind mapping software that is completed online and is not software you download. Has direct online links and set up.

www.twitter.com A social networking site that can be useful to maintain contact with students and for them to communicate with each other while being monitored.

www.simpsonizeme.com Want to stay anonymous, but still want a picture of you on your site? This is a fun way to do it: create a cartoon character of yourself in the Simpsons’ style.

http://www.hongkiat.com/blog/11-sites-to-create-cartoon-characters-of-yourself/ Don’t like the Simpsons, but like the idea of creating a cartoon version of you? Visit this blog for a list of free sites to do just that!

www.fix8.com Animating software using this software and a webcam. Be yourself or an alien!

www.visuword.com A visual word dictionary that not only defines words, but connects them to other words.

http://download.cnet.com/windows/ From CNET, this site provides a list of freeware that is useful for professional and personal lives.

http://www.reallusion.com/crazytalk/ $ Face puppet animation software. Turn any still photo into a moving, talking, interactive image

www.sitepal.com $ For a minimum fee, you can create moving, talking avatars—most useful for brief eye-catching announcements.

Insight Media $ Educational and training videos for the classroom: DVDs and other visual media for university and secondary classrooms.