Redesign

Technology is evolving at a dauntingly exponential rate. As educators we are tasked with not only trying to stay up to date with new initiatives, but also creating ways for our students to use these effectively in the classroom. The ISTE Standards recommend that:

Effective teachers model and apply the ISTE Standards for Students as they design, implement, and assess learning experiences to engage students and improve learning; enrich professional practice; and provide positive models for students, colleagues, and the community.

International Society for Technology in Education, 2008

Teaching is a demanding job. Incredibly rewarding, but always demanding. I have a constant long list of tasks & ideas that should or could be accomplished. Experience has taught me to be well organised with my time, and to prioritize incessantly. There is simply never enough time to complete every task that crosses my mind. This is why, for me, the word ‘design’ is the most daunting from the above quotation. In a 20 hour teaching week (+ meetings, ECA’s, planning etc.) how am I going to find the time and expertise to redesign all of these learning experiences effectively?

So what is the solution?

How can we make this an achievable and beneficial process for all teachers?

Leading by example is a great place to start.

In class we are currently learning about surveys, questioning and data handling.I thought this was a great time to trial Google Forms. I began the lesson with a brief orientation and away my students went.

All students launched into creating surveys instantly. They were fearless and unafraid to make mistakes, problem-solved quickly and shared their increasing understanding with each other. Within the first lesson all surveys were complete, shared on our class padlet page and completed by each other quickly.

Then the students took the lesson design in their own direction. This is when the design got interesting.

‘Let’s invite other classes to complete our surveys’

‘Add more choices so I can choose one I like’

‘Can the teachers do mine?’

‘Let’s all add more questions about animals.’

‘Can the world do mine?’

Ideas quickly snowballed and we tweeted, emailed and shared links to the forms. Students were very excited to see their results created for them instantly. The analysis of this data was also instant, spontaneous and enthusiastic.  After a quick demonstration all students were able to review their results and create pie charts. They discussed their data immediately. And this was all within the first hour. The task before re-design was at least 4 hours which mostly involved trying to meet our target audience and not losing our data (or felt pen lids). Pie charts, percentages, peer editing and a global audience were not even considered part of this task.

The hardest part of the lesson was my decision to actually teach it. The redesign of the task of ‘use a survey’ intimidated me as I was unsure about how the students might learn data collection. The conclusion was that the students far exceeded my design and were able to teach me things as we all learnt the functions of google forms. They quickly realised that if they had a mistake on their form, they could update it without changing the link. ‘Oh it’s okay Miss I’ve already fixed that bit’ was how I learnt to do this.

The students are so excited about their results we have decided to share them with the school in assembly this week. One student is still keeping a daily count of his survey entries and comparing his increasing pool of data. (Please add to it: https://tinyurl.com/och6hrf ).

I have completely altered how I will teach data handling forever. I did not utilize the peer editing potential of the task so I am already excited about redesigning this task further for next year. Once again I am reminded by the COETAIL approach of how to go about using technology. It really is okay that I don’t have all of the answers. The design of the task may change (for the better) after you have begun the lesson. And hopefully it may even result in saving you time.