Technology Changes and Advances in Secondary School Classrooms

This week, I am going to look at the blog, The Pursuit of Technology Happiness by Michael Zimmer. His educational background is outlined, from attending a small K-12 school in Kentucky to being a classroom teacher to being a technology integration specialist to being a curriculum coordinator. He uses this blog to discuss important ways that technology can be incorporated into classrooms, mainly the secondary setting, and also presents how quickly technology changes.

One thing to note about this blog is that he hasn’t posted much in the past year, actually only a handful posts over the past two years.  There was one post I was really drawn to, though, which was his most recent, from January 22, 2015.  The blog post is titled, “Just How Far Has Educational Technology Come in a Short Time?” and in it, he reflects on how technology-based ideas changed dramatically in comparison to one of his posts from September, 2010.  Here are two ideas of the past…what they were, what they are now, and how they can be used in the classroom.

1.  FLIP Camera

In the post, “Doing a “FLIP” Across the Curriculum”, Zimmer discusses the various ways to use a Flip camera in the classroom. Interestingly enough, the link to the Flip camera shows that “Cisco exited the Flip business April 2011 and will now end support for The Flip and FlipShare on December 31, 2013”. This shows how fast technology moves- in just 4 short years, a once prime use of technology no long exists!

So what exactly was the Flip camera and what eventually has replaced it?  The Flip camera was designed as a tapeless digital camcorder in 2009, with the first version (Pure Digital Point & Shoot”) released in 2006.  Obviously, since then, the integration of smart phones as means of quick video and editing has evolved, and the need for using a video camera, such as the Flip camera, has ceased.  The ideas presented for the use of a Flip camera still resonate today and could easily be used in connection with smart phone video editing.  Some ideas for an English classroom (like mine) include:

• Produce a movie trailer based on a book read in class.
• Video poetry monologues and speeches to help read the poem with inflection.
• For speech class, give students the option to pre-record a speech and play for the class to help with nerves. I wish I would have read this idea last year, as I taught a Speech elective class.  It would have been a great practice and presenting tool for my students!
• Reenact scenes from plays, stories, or other movies.  I colleague of mine has students record modern-day versions of dramatic plays, such as The Crucible and Macbeth.
• Record skits based on sections of books.

2. Clicker (student response) systems

Another tool that has completely transitioned into the use of both Wi-Fi connection and cell phones is the Clicker system.  Clicker systems are used for student-response in the classroom, and there a variety of them that can used on different devices, such as iPads, Android tables, Chromebook, and the general browser.  He links to a post that outlines the best student response systems for the classroom.  Richard Byrne discusses 7 systems that work on all devices:

• Infuse Learning

This is a free tool that students can access on their own person devices.  Teachers can give quizzes and ask questions in different types of formats (multiple choice, true/false, short answer).

• Quiz Socket

Teachers can create quizzes on the Quiz Socket website and students can access them on their phones, iPads, or computers, using a “quiz code”. The quiz can be given via device or in-class.

• Kahoot

The unique aspects of Kahoot are that pictures and video can be added to questions and a scoreboard of results can be pulled up on the teacher’s Smart Board.

• Verso

Teachers can create and distribute “flipped lessons” through this service and invite students to “Verso classrooms” for learning. The Google Drive account can be used to insert videos, pictures, and other files and students can use an account dashboard to track their progress within the “Verso environment”.

• Socrative

This tool has a fun feature called the “space race” format, in which individuals or teams can compete in answering the questions the fastest.  Cell phones or laptops can be used for this system.

• Poll Everywhere

I mentioned this tool in one of my previous posts.  This system uses text messaging to gather feedback, is free, and text messages can be accessed online.  “Word cloud” are used to display feedback.

• Mentimeter

This instant feedback device is similar to both Poll Everywhere and Socrative, but doesn’t have as many features.  It is free and can be accessed by phone, tablet, or other Wi-Fi devices.

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Zimmer’s post finishes with the acknowledgement that his time away from blogging has been indicative of his own progress in technology.  Technology takes time to learn, time to integrate, and time to adapt to.  It also changes rapidly.

Then the question he posed was:  “What changes have you seen?”

Personally, the biggest changes I have seen in schools is the use of personal laptop computers and iPads and Smart Board applications.  While the use of cell phones has become popular in classrooms, I have yet to be part of that movement.

In my next post, I discuss some of the Web 2.0 Resources listed on this blog.