Room at the Top

As a whole I found Grand Valley professors and miscellaneous staff members are advancing rapidly in the technology world as they are in search of an advanced and organized library as well as classroom strategies that prove to be the most effective for their students. While each booth presented different solutions to advance Grand Valley in the technology world there seemed to be a similarity amongst all of the presenters. Each professional voiced the fact that their objective was to simply make learning and researching easier for their students, as well as make learning interactive between both professor and student and student to student.
First is Sean Lancaster, professor of Ed 205 and recipient of the Pew Teaching with Technology award. As a former student of Sean’s I can easily understand how his strategies and ideas were recognized as his desire to stray from blackboard and into other online resources were quite effective. Sean’s primary online tool is his website that is used in place of blackboard and allows students the ability to take Ed 205 from their computer in their home. On the website I noticed three key groups in which students could access any information they needed to succeed in the class. The first was general info where the syllabus was available, as well as the class list in case a student needed to contact another student. Other information was available as well, but the most important information is found in the second and third groups. In the second group key links were available for any help from other online sources, as well as a list if key dates in which projects were due on. The students could easily access information to each project as well by simply clicking on the name and there a step-by-step process was available to walk each student through the project. In the third column the weekly lessons are listed. Here the students could click on the current week and information becomes available in which Sean has a detailed list for each student to follow in order to complete the necessary tasks for each week. This included a: project or lab, readings, and classroom discussions. Each week the student was to participate in at least four discussions where Sean would post a question or to topic and the students would respond to him and to each other. Finally at the end of each week Sean would send out an evaluation to remain updated in his own effectiveness and learn what he should continue to do and what he should fix. Overall Sean’s online learning experience challenges students in a way that prepares them for the never ending advance in technology education.
Secondly is Shelley Schurman who is a professor in social work. Shelley has targeted the downfalls of journals which are necessary in the teaching strategy of social work education and has replaced traditional handwritten journals with e-journals, or electronic journals. Some dilemmas Shelley has encountered when dealing with hand-written journals are: unclear handwriting, time management, and the absence of the journal needs to be collected and graded by the instructor. E-journals fix these problems by allowing student-faculty contact, which means students who are shy in class are more reluctant to voice their opinion when typing it on a computer. Also the online journals allow for active learning, prompt feedback, time on task, high expectations, respect for diverse talents and ways of learning, and reciprocity and cooperation amongst students. Most importantly is the fact that students can interact with each other in a most effective way as again they feel conferrable to open up and truly say what is on their mind due to the fact that they don’t have to do it in person.
Next is the interactive power point, a new device that seemingly has caught the eye of many professors. What I like most is the mission statement that Easy Graphicscore, the creator of Turning Point, has placed on the front page of their brochure. It says, “Turning: Attendance into involvement, participation into assessment, and potential into success.” The tool instantly becomes all the more appealing as professors are told that their classrooms can be a haven for all three of those earlier statements as Turning point requires students to actively participate in each session. The hand held device is used by each student as a type of remote. The professor presents a PowerPoint presentation that obtains questions, surveys, opinion polls and complex problems. After each one of these questions or problems the class voices their opinion via remote and instant results are displayed on the screen. The requirement to participate forces the students to follow along and listen in class, and while a few problems might occur, such as cost, large university classes can now have a way to include each student.
Finally is ebrary, an online resource for books that allow students to research and read without having to leave their home or dorm. Ebrary can be accessed through the GVSU library page online from any computer as long as the user has a username and password, and once you arrive your research begins. First you need to indicate the fact that you are searching for an e-book, following that you type in the category in which you are searching for i.e. (war, business). A list is formulated that includes all the books in your category search, and remember due to the fact that you requested that they all be e-books the list of books can all be read online. Once you select your book of choice the table of contents is pulled up. Here you can read through the book, select a chapter, or advance even further in your search. The program allows the reader to again type in a category or key word, and the program sorts through the book and pulls all sections out that include your desired topic and the chapters and page numbers they are on. Because of the fact that the user is allowed to pinpoint their desired information research time is drastically reduced and students don’t need to bother with endless searching and page flipping.
While there were numerous booths that I haven’t commented on all seemed to have an interesting and helpful idea that will improve student learning and involvement. Now it is up to other professors and students to put these ideas into action and improve their own classroom experience.