Design Experiment 4: PBWorks

This week we were asked to explorer PBWorks. I beign explorering PBWorks. I  previously had created/contributed some wiki pages on wikipedia.org.  PBworks is real-time web-based creative collaborative editing software that enables businesses or schools to interact with their clients and students in a timely, and in a sharing environment. The video below is the overview of PBWorks for Education.

• what is a wiki and what are it’s affordances (i.e. what can users do in a wiki) or how does PBWorks compare to a wiki you’ve used before [this is the T in TPACK]

A wiki is a website that allows the creation and editing of any web pages on the web browser. Wikis allow content to be easily created and updated. They also allow previous versions of documents to be accessible. A wiki allows its users to exchange information. Affordances include editable where wiki content can be easily edited by multiple users. Editing allows users to add their perspectives and updated information to the pages. 
Previously I explored wikispace in another class. Here is a Venn Diagram below to illustrate similarities and differences between PbWorks and Wikispaces. 

Image courtesy of creately.com/

• what content (that is, learning objective or outcome) in your teaching area/subject could you “teach” with a wiki. Identify not only a learning objective/outcome, but also describe what students would do in the wiki (i.e. the instructional activity). [this is the C in TPACK]

As a Computer Teacher, I could have my students to create a wiki as an ongoing class assignment. I would introduce what wiki is to my students, and show them how to use it. I would use it in my computer science classes to have my students to collaborate with each other. I think wikis support best project-based assignments and collaborative approach which is widely used in Computer Science classes to give students hands-on experience in using the gained knowledge to solve problems. For example, I would have my students to use wiki to expand literacy in the computer science class, building collaborative glossary, group projects to share resources, track class notes, e-portfolios to reflect on their learning progress or build a wiki about the class to retain it as a reference for future students in my course. Possibilities are limitless with wikis. We can use wikis in classroom as an information sharing tools to exhibit what's exactly going on in the class. I would encourage my students to be producers, rather than just consumers. This helps my students to master the content. One specific example, I can use wikis in my video production class. Students can use wiki to write film/movie/book reviews in the class. Other students can also contribute. Students critically evaluate and discuss the directorial techniques of selected film directors within their socio-cultural contexts (learning outcome). Then, they create wiki pages about their findings.

• explain what learning theory or theories apply to the use of this technology (a wiki) to support the learning activity you’ve described [this is the P in TPACK]

I think it is an example of project-based learning to use wiki in film review project. Also, using wikis in the class facilitates cooperative and collaborative learning. Project-based learning (PBL) is a teaching method in which students gain knowledge and skills by working for an extended period of time to investigate and respond to an engaging and complex question, problem, or challenge. Students gain knowledge and skill of how to critique a movie or book by working for an extended period of time, and they investigate and write their own review about the movie or book. They also collaborate with each other in the wiki platform. Again using wikis in the classroom enhance students motivation and improve collaboration and knowledge sharing among students. 

Design Experiment 3: Khan Academy, MIT OpenCourseware, & YouTube

This week, we are asked to explore Khan Academy and MIT Open Courseware. I teach high school level Computer Science class and it is necessary for students to master Algebra I skills before in order to succeed in my class. I am also helping some 11th grade students to get them ready for SAT test. I explored Khan Academy first this week. The Khan Academy is a non-profit educational organization that provides free video tutorials and interactive exercises. Teachers, parents, students can signup for free and learn and practice variety of subjects. Below is a very useful overview video.

Khan Academy has lessons from Math, Art & Humanities, Science & Engineering, Computing, Economy & Finance, Test Prep subjects. Khan Academy allows teachers to create a class, then add students to his/her class. This allows teachers to track his/her students' progress in the platform. Also, you can track your students' skill progresses. It is awesome you can see how many minutes your students spend on video lessons, skill activities, and mastered/struggled lessons.

Khan Academy has a Computing category. In this category, there are four sub-categories exist. These are Computer Programming, Computer Science, Hour of Code, and Computer Animation.
I explored each sections in the Computing category.

Computer Programming

This sections helps students to learn how to program drawings, animations, and games using JavaScript & ProcessingJS, or learn how to create webpages with HTML & CSS. Students can share whatever they create, explore what others have created and learn from each other!

I found this section very useful. Since I teach Computer science, and Web Design classes, my students can definitely benefit by using Khan Academy. It has interactive video tutorials, you can pause rewind or forward the video, and dive in and do something right away in the screen. There is a preview window next to it. It also has discussion, documentation and spin-off sections below each video. So, students can easily get help in discussion forums and documentation sections.

I think I can definitely integrate Khan Academy's Computer Programming course into my classes next year.

Computer Science

This sections helps you learn topics from computer science - algorithms (how we solve common problems in computer science and measure the efficiency of our solutions), cryptography (how we protect secret information), and information theory (how we encode and compress information).

This section is just awesome. Since I teach AP Computer Science course, having some information about algorithms is essential. With the help of algorithms, scientists solve real-world complex problems. Algorithms are step by step procedure or a set of steps to accomplish a task. I like how Khan Academy organized videos and activities together. Students can watch video, and next they practice on the related activity to master the content. I think I can integrate this unit into my AP Computer Science course beginning of the school year.

Hour of Code

Khan Academy has three hour of code activities. Hour of Drawing with Code, Hour of Webpages, and Hour of Databases. I think this one-hour introduction to computer science section designed to show that anybody can learn the basics of computer programming. This one-hour sections can be integrated at the beginning to introduce students to wonderful world of programming.

Computer Animation

This section is my favorite. Khan Academy collaborated with Pixar Animation Studios to create this unit. The goal is to show you how realistic blades of grass are modeled using parabolic arcs, how organic looking patterns are created using randomness, how clay models are transformed into digital characters using weighted averages, how characters are brought to life with geometric transformations, how animators bring characters to life with the help of animation curves, how virtual sets are constructed using geometric transformations, and how pixels are painted by solving systems of linear equations.I am glad that Khan Academy collaborated with a professional company to create this course. I teach

I can definitely incorporate this unit into my Digital Graphics & Illustration class.

Affordances

• Free
• User friendsly interface
• Badges for recognition
• Collect and analyze data
• Interact with others

 Khan Academy, Inc., a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization. Khan Academy's term of use requires consent and approval form from legal parent/guardian of students whose 13 years old or younger. Khan Academy fits perfectly if you want to flip or blend your classroom. This tool support self-directed instruction and flipped/blended classroom approaches. Students can watch these videos and do activities at home, and come prepared to school and deepen their understanding and knowledge in the class. I feel confident now about developing online learning environment and incorporate all these wonderful tools into my online environment. I can now use Canvas CMS and incorporate Google Apps and Khan Academy into my online/blended/flipped classes.

Design Experiment 2: Edmodo and Other CMSs

This week we are asked to explore Edmodo and other Course Management Systems(CMS). Edmodo is an educational website that takes the ideas of a social network and refines them and makes it appropriate for a classroom. Using Edmodo, students and teachers can reach out to one another and connect by sharing ideas, problems, and helpful tips.

My learning experience with Edmodo started couple years ago at Dove Science Academy - Oklahoma City where I taught Web Mastering and Pre-AP Computer Science classes. To set up a teacher account is very easy and only takes very little time. Edmodo has a very user friendly user interface.
Below is the video of Edmodo Overview.

Once you sign up, then you can easily create groups for your classes. Once you establish your groups/classes, then you can have your students to create their profile pages and then join into your course group. Then you can walk-through your students about how to access course content you shared with them.
You can create polls, quizzes, post discussion questions, send reminders, etc. You can have your students and parents to set up notifications, so they will be notified about announcements, due dates, etc.

It was incredibly easy to share links, videos, files with students in the course group. It was also beneficial for students who feel confident communicating with me and other in writing instead of orally in the class. This encourages all students to take responsibility for their learning and become active participants.

Another affordance is that if any student was absent that day, s(he) was able to keep up with what is going on in the class.
I think it helps improving the quality of students' work, because students know their classmates would be reading their work and posts.


One affordance I want to mention here is that it is easy for teacher-student, student-student, teacher-teacher collaboration, also it is very useful for group work discussions, and enable students and teachers to leave immediate feedback.

Last year I used Google Classroom in my classes. I somewhat liked it until I discovered Canvas Learning Management System(LMS). This year, I used Canvas to deliver my courses. Canvas is a Learning Management System with an intuitive interface that supports a deep focus on teaching and learning. Since I consider my self a "tech savvy" person, I had no challenges delivering my blended courses via Canvas. Watching the tutorial video helped me to understand how Canvas works. Canvas' user interface is simple, and very easy to learn. You will have all basic tools you need in a class.  I think Canvas is the most flexible and easiest LMS to use in an online environment.
Here is a short video explaining Canvas features below.

Learning Tools Interoperability (LTI) enables us to easily integrate other systems and tools to extend the functionality of the course. For example, an instructor may want to include a study aid (flashcards, mini-quizzes, etc.) to help students better understand the concepts being taught. This is awesome! There are currently 228 apps/plug-ins you can integrate into your course. Please visit eduappcenter.com for more information.
Canvas is flexible, that allows customization to support a range of pedagogical styles and formats. It is cloud-based application, so whatever you do is saved on the cloud, and you can access them wherever you are. Also, teachers can easily connect with students through multimedia, chat, and discussion board options.

Canvas provides gradebook and quiz section. You can import your question banks from various formats. For example, you can create your question banks in Examview, and then export it for Canvas, and import this question banks in Canvas, that's it! Your questions are in Canvas, and ready to use them for student assessments. Canvas also provides Speed Grader, which allows you to view and grade student assignment submissions in one place using a simple point scale or complex rubric. When you assign quiz, you can set time limit, shuffle answers, multiple attempts, one question at a time, lock question after answering, set password to view quiz, lock browser, etc. After the quiz, you can give feedback to students for their wrong/correct answers on the quiz.

Canvas Affordances:
Easy to use and navigate, provide profile page, blog, photo/music sharing, wall messaging, and groups, enable video conferencing an google docs integration through third part, easy to upload and share and manage all media with better media management interface, very powerful quiz and grading tools, very powerful and customizable schedule that only unlock specific module when condition met, manage students and permission of other teachers, observers, editors, provides powerful customizable page control.

Edmodo vs Canvas
I found the following Venn diagram that best illustrates similarities and differences between Edmodo and Canvas. Adding functionality to Canvas via LTI apps makes Canvas more powerful LMS than Edmodo. With Canvas, you can have all the features Edmodo has, plus you will have many more unique features, such as integrated media recorder to easily record audio or video comments, modules helps you organize and sequence content and learning activities, web conferencing enables synchronous real-time audio, video, and whiteboard capabilities.
About pedagogical approaches, both platforms support;

• Open-ended instructions (have your students to reach their conclusions on their own)
• Direct instruction (use platform to teach your students specific facts)
• Interdisciplinary learning(both platforms can be used to teach units across different curricular disciplines)
• Differentiated instructions(build lessons, select materials, and vary your teaching so that all students can get maximum benefit from the lesson)
• Cooperative & collaborative learning (use platform's collaboration tools to offer students to work together in small groups or one-on-one. Both platforms have the discussion forum. It’s a place where student learning is visible. It’s a place where students learn from others and contribute to the learning of others, this feature can be used for any class)

Design Experiment 1: Google Apps

Image courtesy of Google.com

Let's just admit Google is awesome. I am glad I am not new to Google and its products. I have been using various google products over a decade. Since I also have computer programming background, Google was my best friend learning programming languages. I used Gmail, Drive, Calendar on a daily basis.  The school districts that I have worked for used Google products in the past, and still using it.

Google Classroom is a great example of Learning Management Systems (LMS), like Moodle, Blackboard, Canvas, with easier user interface. As Alice Keeler (leading expert on Google Classroom) defines Google Classroom as "Google Drive Management". This makes more sense to students and teachers, because they don't have to waste their time to access and share Google Drive files. Google made collaboration and sharing easier with its Google Apps for Education (GAFE) products. I think teachers feel more comfortable working in Google Drive than spending time creating courses in a CMS. Instead of spending hours of work to construct multiple choice questions into CMS like Moodle, teachers can use Google Forms  for assessment. Google Classroom is accessible from all computers, mobile phones, tablets. Another great advantage is that it provides effective communication and sharing.

I used Google Classroom last two years. It was fun experiment for me and my students first year. The user interface is very user friendly. In our school, school gave Chromebooks to everybody, as you might not know google Chromebooks works only with gmail credentials. So registering students to my Google Classroom was very easy task, I just shared the registration code with students, and that's it! or you can just invite your students to sign up.

Creating assignments are very easy task with Google Classroom. In each assignment or announcement or question allows you to attach either Google Drive file, YouTube Video, link, or attachment. 

After I create assignments, there is an option to make a copy for each student, then Google Classroom duplicates that file for each student, their name next to the file name. By doing this, as a teacher, I save a lot of time. I just create an assignment template once, and it duplicates for each student. Then students open this file in their google drive, after they finish the assignment, there is a"Turn In" button where students can submit their work right away. After that, Google Classroom puts this submission and organizes into a folder, so later you can check and grade them all easily in one place.

Image courtesy of bpsedtech.org

Then I can provide effective feedback for every single students enrolled in my Google Classroom. If the assignment is not complete, you can return it back to students, and ask for revision. I used no papers last two years for my classes thanks to Google Classroom. Since all my assignments are stored in Google Drive, there was no need to print them, hand them out, or even lose my students' work.

I think one of the limitation of using Google Classroom is that there is no automated quizzes and tests. Another limitation is that you can't grade students work by multiple rubric or criteria, you have to use point value. Also, it would be awesome if Google can add Google Calendar option to Google Classroom, so due date of assignments can show up in students' calendars.

TPACK

In our school, many teachers use Google Classroom in their classes. Since we provide Chromebooks to everybody, they carry their devices to all their classes.

Technology: Google Classroom, Chromebook or Laptop or Mobile Phone or Tablet

Pedagogy: Inquiry based instruction, project based learning, group working, independent study, discussions, debate, collaborative learning, student-centered, reflections, etc.

m

Content: it can be used in any classes, including Math, Social Studies, English, Science, Art, Music, etc. 

Example Lesson: Split your student into teams and use Google Classroom to initiate a debate about whether cell phones are safe or no in Cyber security class.

Google Sites

Google Sites is a free service from Google which lets you create, edit and share websites. It is entirely web-based - you create, edit and share your website entirely online using the Google Sites editor. In our school every student from 6th to 12th grades are required to do a Project Based Learning (PBL), and they have to create a website about their PBL project by using Google Sites on their Chromebooks.

Technology: Google Sites, Laptop or Chromebook

Pedagogy: Project Based Learning, E-Portfolio, Independent study, group work, 

Content: can be used for any class

Example Lesson: Students create their digital e-portfolio on Google Sites.

Google Drawing

Google Drawings is a free, web-based diagramming software developed by Google. It allows users to collaborate and work together in real time to create flowcharts, organisational charts, website wireframes, mind maps, concept maps, and other types of diagrams. In our school, this tools is Social Studies teachers' favorite one. Students can do drawings easily.

Technology: Google Drawing, Laptop or Chromebook

Pedagogy: Collaborative learning, independent study, group work,cognitive, etc. 

Content: can be used for any class

Example Lesson: Students create timeline of United States Presidents in groups by using Google Drawing.

Google Earth

Google Earth is a geobrowser by Google that accesses satellite and aerial imagery, ocean bathymetry, and other geographic data over the internet to represent the Earth as a three-dimensional globe. Sometimes I let my students to explore some cool places in the world. This tools can be very useful in the instruction.

Technology: Google Earth, Laptop or Chromebook

Pedagogy: Independent study, group work, exploratory etc. 

Content: can be used for any class

Example Lesson: After reading Around the World in 80 Days, have high school students to locate 19 placemarks mentioned in the book. Have them select 19 places they would stop and explain why

Overall, Google Apps are very useful to integrate in any subject. As you see, it promotes better collaboration, productivity, and  creativity among both students and teachers.

Welcome

 “Learners in the internet age don’t need more information. They need to know how to efficiently use the massive amount of information available at their fingertips – to determine what’s credible, what’s relevant, and when its useful to reference.” - Anna Sabramowicz