http://thejournal.com/Articles/2011/02/02/The-Backwards-Class.aspx?admgarea=pre&Page=1
Throughout our class we have discussed how to make the classroom lecture more enjoyable. Or at least a bit more tolerable.
I came across an article written in The Journal from earlier this year about a math teacher in Maryland that completely changed her approach to teaching her class.
And the results were what I expected and happily so.
After attenting a conference in Boston, the teacher Stacey Roshan, came across a presentation of Camtasia Studio, a lecture capture video program that records screen and voice. Ms. Roshan used this for her calculus class and in short time, the participation, the quality of homework and (I assume) the genuine interest in the subject greatly rose.
In my current class about using technology in the classroom, we have been shown similar devices. Yet this was the first article I read that proved that teachers in other parts of the country were able to use such a teaching a tool.
For all my apprehensions about allowing technology to seep into the classroom too quickly, I think this type of teaching is fantastic. It is a great way to integrate technology while maintaining the tradtional studies that I feel are important to student success. The students go home, watch the video, work out their math problems, write any questions down and then the next day come into class, don't have to sit through a lecture (that's what the video was for) and get more one-on-one interaction.
And that is what technology in the classroom should be all about: not completely replacing what was already there but enhancing and complimenting what has already existed.
I really like the idea of being able to capture small lessons that help support students. I am a special education teacher and I have struggled with how to use technology this way, but I have begun to make mini (2-3 minute) support lessons that help reinforce topics through videos at home. I can post it to my blog and the student (and parents) can access it.
ReplyDeleteIt seems to me that good teachers have known for generations that students need varying stimuli to keep their attention, so the idea that incorporating different audio and video elements together in a single digital presentation only seems natural now that we have the technology.
ReplyDeleteI can certainly understand some teachers' reluctance to adopt some technologies in their classrooms given the complete lack of data to support it. But it seems like this technology in particular is just combining tools that have proven effective over and over again.