Wicked Problem Project Final

For an assignment within my Masters Course I had to pick a problem I was experiencing within my classroom and use some sort of technology to address that issue.

The wicked problem I chose to tackle had two parts.  Part 1 was that I didn't have a good way to get a really good understanding of students comprehension (as a whole class) during a lecture or note-taking session.  What I have found worked best for me was to ask lots of questions, often. With this strategy, I am asking a question to a specific student every 30 seconds, on average. Even with this strategy I am only able to ask one question to one student.  This is unacceptable to me.  How do I know what the entire class is thinking based on one students answer.

Part 2 of my problem was that I wanted some way to monitor progress throughout a unit and to allow students to become vested in what they are learning.

My solution was to incorporate a student response system into my classroom (SRS)(AKA Clickers).  This would allow me to ask the whole class one question and quickly get results and tailor my lesson to best fit those results.

This also allows me the ability to give a pre and a post test in order to monitor progress throughout a unit.  This provides students with a starting platform to work off of for motivation as well.

My technology fits the TPACK curriculum in the following ways

1.  How does the technology I have chosen support the teaching strategies and methods I have chosen?

I will still be delivering content and probing for questions, but I now will be probing each student numerous questions and will be able to give instant feedback to both myself and the student.  This will allow me to alter what I am doing, based on class participation, to best fit a class or group of students.  It will allow a student to instantly see "how am I understanding this content?" and will hopefully provoke questions from the students if they are not understanding.

By creating pre-tests and post tests that the students will use the SRS to answer I am hoping for a shift in motivation for students.  Unmotivated students will now have a tangible goal.  They will see where they started with their pre-tests and most will want to see their post test score higher and in turn will find some motivation to get there.  For the extrinsically motivated student, I am hoping for some intrinsic motivation to arise within.

2.  How specifically does this technology make the content more intellectually accessible?

By using a SRS, I am able to quickly give both myself and the students feedback on how they are doing.  The students will immediately know how they did on a pre or post test and it will allow me the ability to publish test grades quicker for parents and students to access online.

By being able to pose numerous questions throughout my lessons I am also able to reel those rouge day-dreamers back in and make sure they are staying connected with the content of the lesson.  Plus at the conclusion of lessons I will now have to ability to ask open ended, thought provoking questions (i.e. exit slips) to further test their knowledge and the SRS allows easy, quick, and organized access to their answers that I can then use to tailor the follow days lesson accordingly.

3.  How specifically do my pedagogical choices make the content more intellectually accessible?

By using a SRS I will be reaching all learnings.  My SRS allows me to incorporate an array of different types of questions into my lesson.  From true/false to multiple choice.  From multiple answer to opinion or open ended questions.  I will be asking students to read and respond, watch this clip and respond, answer this question after I present this information to you, etc.  As i become more comfortable with them I would also like to incorporate the SRS into group work and collaboration as well.

Below is a video explaining my project and how I solved my problem.

Professional Learning Plan

The following story is one that I created to tell my professional learning plan for educational technologies.  It highlights what my goals were when I started the program and how those goals have been accomplished or changed and it also provides a way that I will continue to grow long after my Masters is complete. 

A Story of the Boy and the Invisible Aliens! A story of hope! by scottcox55 on Storybird