I. Bryan Weinert's Technology Assistant
I suspect that your teachers are probably a little overwhelmed with all of the technology they are trying to incorporate into their classes. It's not clear if this is the first year they are using some of this technology. I would say that they need to master a few technologies this first year, and go on to master more the next year.
So I guess that I don't think your project is too ambitious, but rather the expectation for the teachers is a little ambitious. Instead of trying to present tutorials for everything at once, I would try to concentrate on solid training for the technology they would most likely use at first. Then they need time to practice the technology and introduce it into their classes slowly.
To do it in stages, maybe you could suggest timely goals for the group and provide tutorials to meet those goals. For example, ask everyone in the group to prepare a Power Point presentation using animation and sound with an audio clip. You could then have a tutorial for animation and sound in Power Point. The group could get together afterward to share their presentations.
I don't think it would hurt to have the tutorials prepared for them, but my experience with teachers (and myself) is that we don't tend to learn something until we have a need to do so.
At my school, they are really getting into Power Point, the Internet, and starting on the scanner. Within the year, I'm hoping they will become interested in web page creation. I don't think they will be ready for Photoshop or video-conferencing for another year.
Since I am also the technology director for my school, I am very interested in your project. My project is similar to yours in that I am creating an Intranet for the teachers and will be posting my tutorials on it. I think that if the tutorials are clear with step-by-step instructions with screen images, the teachers are more apt to use them. Those kind of tutorials take a lot of time, however. There are a lot of tutorials for your software on the Internet. A good graphical tutorial for Power Point is at http://www.eiu.edu/~mediasrv/ppoint97/PowerPoint.html .
When you mentioned that there would be Power Point presentations that any teacher may use, did you mean that you will prepare them as a tutorial for the teacher or for classroom use? What kind of topics will you cover in the presentations? If you plan on preparing your own tutorials, you could be in for a lot of work with the many different technologies you are using.
Good luck and keep me posted!
Return
to top
II. Shamus P. Regan's Web-based Test of Learning Styles
I think your project is fascinating! I have always talked about learning styles in my classes the first week of school. I think many students don't realize that in order to do well in school, they need to identify their learning style and then utilize studying techniques that take advantage of it. I found several sites on the web that have multiple-choice answer tests for determining learning styles. None of them tested the reader, but rather had them determine which type of activity they preferred for learning. You have one of them (the learning styles inventory) listed as a link.
It would be great if there were a website for teachers to direct their students to for this assessment. I like your idea about looking for gender differences. I love your observation about the difference between learning Algebra vs. Geometry. Because I taught both of those subjects for 12 years, I have some opinions about why some do better in one than the other.
Some problems I forsee:
Setting up an auditory test on the web might
be difficult.
Will the test be timed?
Who will be your audience?
How will you determine the validity of your tests
and conclusions?
It may be difficult finding adequate test questions.
Whenever I give the inventory test, I seldom find anyone who leans heavily towards one learning style. Many people's responses indicate they learn best by seeing, yet we know that visual learning results in one of the lowest rates of retention and learning. So do they just think they learn best by seeing, but the reality is opposite? We need a test like yours that doesn't do self-assessment, but an objective assessment.
I'm quite interested in your project. If I can help with any Algebra/Geometry problems or insights, let me know.
III. Jennifer McNeilly's Examining the Use of Technology in a Mathematics Course
I think that your project is a very useful one. You may want to collaborate with Shamus (see above). You both are really trying to answer the same question. Graphing calculators incorporate both visual and tactile learning. Your project would be of great interest to a lot of mathematics and science teachers.
Some difficulties I see:
As you mentioned, it could be difficult to quantify
your findings. Although assessment in mathematics is usually objective,
there always are many variables entering into the results, such as ability,
motivation, is it Friday(!), etc. So comparing the results of
a control group is not always accurate.
Surveying the students will probably give you positive responses because they enjoy the hands-on experience that graphing calculators give them.
Some suggestions:
As I recall, Sandy mentioned that she specializes
in assessment . You could ask her for help in developing your project.
You're probably are familiar with a paper on TI's
site at http://www.ti.com/calc/docs/therole_5.htm
There are some good references in it. Maybe
within those references they discuss how they came to their conclusions
and you could use some of their ideas.