EDUC 701 - Technology in a 21st Century ClassroomThis week I watched the video titled, “Using Technology to Boost Confidence” found on the Teaching Channel. The video explored the use of technology to improve both communication skills as well as confidence. The teacher, Ms. Paraiso, uses Google Hangouts where her students meet online to collaborate and work in small groups. She found that her students enjoy seeing themselves on the computer screen and feel more confident working in smaller groups and more willing to participate because they see their peers doing so. The Hangouts are recorded so students can go back and watch current and former students responses as well as review content which leads to greater student confidence.
This past year, I used Google Hangouts as a forum for my students to connect and communicate with another 5th grade class in Indiana. The other teacher and I set up a virtual book club where both classes read the same book and took turns asking and answering questions from the book. We found that both classes really looked forward to the video calls and there was a greater sense of accountability among our students in taking time to craft thoughtful questions to ask their peers in the other class as well as taking their time to answer the questions with more attention to detail.
4 Comments
Brendan Galvin
6/27/2016 11:37:15 pm
Wow, I enjoyed your take on how to use google hangouts. I had seen a similar video to that in a previous class. I think the power of google handouts lies in the ability to combine classrooms from around the world or small group instruction for a single classroom. I wonder why this is not always present in a classroom setting? Why do students show up prepared and excited for google hangouts and not regular class.
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I totally watched the same video! How did you find it? I specifically searched by content and grade level, then added in the engagement key word since my overall research question focuses on student engagement.
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Kristin
6/28/2016 08:56:51 am
We watched the same video!! Would love to talk to you about setting this up for next year between our classes!!
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Joe Madigan
7/6/2016 10:36:49 am
I will watch this video and explore other related videos. I know there are lots of teachers utilizing google at Napa High in ways that I'm not sure how can be adapted for math...but I would like to check it out.
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