Technology In The Classroom: Learning From My Classmates

My classmates, most of whom are already in the classroom, are an incredible source of information.  Just reading their posts on the forums I see so many ways technology gets used that I didn't expect or think up.

A lot of them talked about using surveys as quizzes in classrooms, or to receive anonymous feedback from students so they could tweak lesson plans.  I would have never thought to use an electronic quiz through google surveys.  I've seen surveys directly through a college's website, but never through google before.  Using google surveys would be good for middle or high schools because they don't usually have the same IT infrastructure that a university or college does.

As for the feedback, that's something that has always bothered me.  Giving feedback to a teacher is intimidating, even when they say it's anonymous, because they see your handwriting every day, and for many students handwriting is very distinctive.  Students are often scared to give teachers feedback (I know I was) because they fear that teacher will become angry and lower the student's grade out of anger.  Doing this feedback online assures anonymity, and allows for teachers to see what their students aren't understanding, and where they can improve.  Are you talking too fast?  Do you try to fit too many things in one lecture?  Do you get so excited about the metaphorical resonance of water and rivers in Crime & Punishment that you start spouting off half-sentences and alienate your students?  (Just me?  Okay.)  An anonymous online survey would allow students to share their thoughts so that the teacher can work on the potential problems in their teaching.

One classmate, Emily, shared an idea to use google's office suite to share information about students among teachers, whether they are concerned about a student's wellbeing or just want to nominate them for an Honors Society.

As an undergrad I used google docs to collaborate with groupmates for projects so we could all work on the same paper or slideshow, and I'm excited to share this method with my future students.  Although, let's face it, they'll probably already know and be way more tech savvy than me.

Google's office suite is also exciting to me because it gives an alternative to paying for Microsoft Office, while still allowing students to use their home computers for projects.  Google accounts are free after all.