Learning & Leading Through Technology

posted inappropriate messages or in inappropriate places.

For example, the students’ first instinct—probably due to their social media experiences—was to post a message saying “hey” or “wats up?” and then their classmates would answer. These sidebar conversations were cluttering up the front page of the classroom site where their assignments appeared.

To solve this problem, we created a message thread titled “The Water Cooler” where students could have conversations about what they did on the weekend or sports they had watched. Moving these conversations to a different place kept the front wall clean so they could find their assignments more easily.

This approach seemed to meet students’ need for messaging, as it was the only thread where text speak was allowed. We kept an eye on it to be sure nothing inappropriate was posted, but we didn’t try to guide those personal conversations like we did in the other commenting areas.

When we did find students posting forbidden content or comments, such as cusswords or derogatory statements, we usually put them on read-only status until the home school teacher had a conversation with the offender about the problem. That usually resolved the situation.

Another challenge was juggling schedules for the projects. Because one school had five rotations, and the other two had four, finding common working time was tricky. We scheduled projects in the middle of all of the quarters, grabbing common times whenever possible. At least, being in the same district meant we had the same days off and the same report-card schedules.

Improved Student Learning

Writing for an authentic audience did wonders for the students’ writing.

They were more careful and concerned
about their words because they had
come to know their audience. And they
gained technology skills that trans-
ferred from the introduction activity to
the research and game-making activi-
ties. Finally, student reflections offered
us insight into their learning processes
while making students’ aware of what
they learned and the uses for their
knowledge.

Students weren’t the only ones to grow from this project, however. While setting up the virtual classroom, each of us learned something new about Edmodo from each other. When the software updated, the learning curve wasn’t so painful because we worked through problems together. We created and shared lessons, cri-tiqued each other’s materials, and offered suggestions for improvement. Essentially, we fine-tuned our online teaching skills and became virtual co-teachers!

Through this experience, students developed skills that better prepare them to step into STEM-related jobs. They have become familiar with online tools and how to use them in a work environment, and they have learned to collaborate with virtual teams, thus preparing them to interact in global careers.

As for the teachers involved, we received the best type of professional development: a virtual professional learning community and experience creating a curriculum that will help students develop digital citizenship skills.

Acknowledgments

I’d like to thank my colleagues Nina Ingram and Jill Capozzoli for their help with this project. Without them, the virtual collaboration between our students would not have been as rich an experience for the students or for me.

Barbara Boksz has taught for

30 years in K– 12 classrooms
and trained faculty in her
district and higher education
to integrate technology across
the curriculum. Her disserta-
tion research focused on using
web 2.0 tools in the classroom.

M.A. in Educational Technology

A powerful learning experience enhanced by the latest technology

Program Highlights

•;Study at the Long Island or
Manhattan campuses
•;Online, blended and
traditional classes
•;Educational Technology
Specialist, K– 12 certification
track for teachers
•;Noncertification track for
instructional designers, e-learning
developers and other education
media specialists