7 Tools for Creating Multimedia Quizzes Compared in One Chart

7 Tools for Creating Multimedia Quizzes Compared in One Chart

To the State Exam 2016

6 New EdTech Tools for Teachers ~ Educational Technology and Mobile Learning

 6 New EdTech Tools for Teachers ~ Educational Technology and Mobile Learning

A PRESENT FROM ST.NICHOLAS

LEARNING IS GOING ON!

TEACHERS' PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT

The question of professional development is still widely discussed. There are different

examples of pilot projects which can be worth implementing, to my mind. One of them you can find following this link: http://people.umass.edu/educ870/teacher_education/Documents/Craig-book.pdf

This is so called “Focus School Project” model.

One of such projects is The three-year Primary Science and Technology Project (Sci-Tec) between the South Australian Education Department and the former South Australian College of Advanced Education (now the University of South Australia.

Schools within the local districts are clustered together to enable joint professional development activities, the sharing of resources, and the dissemination of information. There is generally one focus school selected per district cluster. Thirty focus schools were identified and two teachers from each of the schools were designated focus teachers. 

The project had three phases. In phase one, the focus teachers developed their own classroom practice in teaching science. They then assisted teachers within their own schools to develop their classroom practices. In phases two and three of the project, the focus teachers worked in pairs in schools in their clusters to assist local teachers first to develop their own classroom practice and to develop the teaching skills. The project provided focus teachers with 20 percent release time from the classroom for three years. The focus schools were required to match this release time from their professional development budget. The teachers were provided with additional release time at the beginning of the project to attend a two-week program at the University of South Australia on classroom practice. At the end of phase one, additional teacher release time enabled focus teachers to work on their inservice skills.

It might be rather interesting (and challenging as well) to participate in such model of teachers’ development. Would you like it? 

Collaborative Learning

I am really sure that collaborative learning is very effective. As we say, two heads are always better than one. While practicing different group activities I witnessed how my students can share strengths and develop their weaker skills at the same time. They also develop their interpersonal skills while collaborating. In some situation they even learn to deal with conflict.

So, group work can result in the production of:

·         wikis

·         proposals

·         reports of case studies

·         in-class or video presentations

·         posters

Here are some ways to provide feedback on group productivity throughout the process as well as on the group product.

·         Evaluate students on both their contributions to group processes as well as the final product.

·         Create a detailed explanation of what your expectations are.

·         Provide scores for individuals as well as groups.

·     Use rubrics.  Consider asking students for feedback and including some of their ideas to the rubric.

·         Incorporate peer and self-assessment at various milestones. This is a good way to check in on the assignment progress as well as the group dynamics.

·         Communicate clearly to students at the beginning how you will calculate their grades.

One of the first things you can do when assessing students' learning is present them with a problem that will elicit a recall of various skills learned throughout a particular course of study. In the traditional manner, give them clear objectives, criteria to demonstrate what they have been learning, and a rubric that defines clear expectations. Then, let them go. Allow your students to organize into work groups. Let them define the roles needed for the task and allow them the opportunity to use various technologies to present, but don't suggest or define a specific tool.

So to quickly review:

·         Step 1: Set clear objectives and tasks

·         Step 2: Allow for open collaboration

·         Step 3: Allow access to learning tools

·         Step 4: Limit explicit direction

·         Step 5: Define clear expectations