4.+Description+of+Cases

= Searching for Innovative Uses of Technology = = An Individual Project = = By: Martha Ross  =

Frey, T., Houlton, A., & Gruis, E. (2010, November). Learning Connections: I Can See Me: Webcams in the Classroom [Electronic version]. //Learning & Leading with Technology//, //38//(3). doi:http://www.iste.org/learn/publications/learning-and-leading/issues/Learning_Connections_I_Can_See_Me_Webcams_in_the_Classroom.aspx

2. A Brief Description of the Case.
The case is about the use of webcams in the classroom to help students achieve better reading fluency and be able to read more words per minute. By using a webcam to record student’s reading the student is able to see and hear themselves. They have a better understanding of where they are having trouble and then are given the opportunity to go back and rerecord the same reading passage. This gives the student confidence and success. Also, there were other examples where using a webcam helps autistic students feel more secure to open up and allows other students to share information easily.

3. The purpose of the innovation.
The purpose of the innovation is to be able to record both audio and visual of the person that is seated in front of the webcam. If the webcam is in the classroom the webcam can record an individual student, the entire class or the teacher.

4. The technology and resources involved.
The technology that would be required would be the actual webcam camera. The editing software that comes with the camera or the software that is available on your computers operating system. If uploading the video to a website an internet connection would then be required.

5. What prior skills and knowledge are required of students?
The prior skill for students would be knowledge of how to properly set up the camera and microphone to make sure it recorded the desired object. The students would have to know how to turn on, use record and then turnoff the webcam. Students would have to have the knowledge how to connect the headphones and microphone in order to be able to record audio. Students also would need to know how to playback their video once it is recorded. Students would not be required to know how to edit the video but an editing software application might be needed if they were hoping to edit out the parts of the video that were not needed.

6. What are students asked to accomplish exactly?
For this case study the students were asked to read in front of the webcam and record their reading, mistakes and all. The students would then go back and view the video to see what mistakes were made. After noting their problems a teacher would then review the tapes with the student together to see what other improvements could be made. Then the student would have the opportunity to try the reading again and note the improvements made to the reading selection.

7. What are the procedures of the project?
The steps to teach the technology skills would require that the students be knowledgeable on the basic functions of the webcam. First the students must know how to setup the webcam and microphone to insure that audio and visual will be recorded. Second, after the setup the student must know how to start recording, pause and stop recording. Once the recording is completed and saved properly, the student then must know what application to open in order to view the recording and edit if necessary.

8. What are the advantages of the project?
The advantage of this project is it gives the students the ability to read out loud without the scrutiny of their peers listening. It also gives them the instant feedback to where their mistakes are and how they look and listen when they are reading. By having the advantage to record multiple times the student can improve each time and eventually end up with a successful reading passage.

9. What are the disadvantages of the project?
The disadvantages of this project would be obtaining the resources and the proper location of the webcam so that it would not interfere with other learning that would be going on in the classroom. Also, the classroom would have to be quiet enough not to be over powering in the individual student’s recording.

10. What types of effective instructional strategies are included?
The types of instructional strategies are the self correction of the student and the ability for instant feedback. The student can record and immediately view their recording without having to wait for a teacher’s help. Also, by correcting the mistakes by themselves the first time they are using a strategy to help them get more comfortable by correcting their own mistakes and being able to critically evaluate themselves and still be successful.

11. What are the possibilities that the innovation can be transferred to other teachers, subject content and different school settings?
I see that the webcam in this instance would be helpful for various setting. Math teachers could set it up so that it could record a student working through a hard problem and then the student could replay the video to see where they went wrong in their problem solving.

12. Other resources/articles you used to evaluate this innovation.
1. Education World has a website article “Web Cams Bring Lessons to Life”. This article details the advantages of using webcams that have been established elsewhere and bringing those into the classroom. There are numerous sites to choose from such as weather, cities and animal cams depending on the lesson you are presenting. Here is a link: http://www.educationworld.com/a_tech/tech/tech100.shtml

2. Digital Geography had a website article that had a teacher listing their many uses for the webcam in the classroom. Here is a link to the site: []

= Case #2 Wikis =

1. Reference information:
Imperatore, C. (2009). Wikis  and Blogs: Your Keys to Student Collaboration & Engagement. //Techniques (Association for Career and Technical Education)//, //84//(3), 30-1. Retrieved from Education Full Text database

2. A brief description of the case.
This case is about the various uses of wikis and blogs in the classroom. It details the benefits of using a wiki in the classroom. Wikis can be used to house classroom information such as syllabuses and communications with parents. It also states that wikis are a great tool to help students learn how to collaborate with other classmates. Wikis are free and easy to use for the non-technical student and gives them the success of being technical by the end of the project. Also, this case brings up the serious topic of internet safety and a wiki has restricted access. So safety is not an issue with a wiki. Restrictions can be placed on the wiki site to only allow students to edit and view material on the wiki.

3. The purpose of the innovation.
The purpose of the wiki was to promote collaboration among students, teachers and parents. The wiki allows for an easy way to post things to the internet without the use of fancy applications or programming languages.

4. The technology and resources involved.
The technology and resources that are involved with the wiki is the computer with internet access. Also, students would need to have an email account in order to gain access to the wiki and be able to post information there. No special software is required.

5. What prior skills and knowledge are required of students?
Students would need to have basic computer skills such as logging into their email account and being able to save and edit. Once a student can log in to email they will have the same success by logging into the wiki site onto their wiki. With the wiki there are basic tasks for editing which is similar to a word processing program so that is not going to be a new skill that would be required.

6. What are students asked to accomplish exactly?
Students are asked to post and edit information on their project within the wiki. Students can post images, documents, websites and even video clips to the website based on their project. Students can post their progress on the project right on the wiki too.

7. What are the procedures of the project?
Students are to learn how to access the wiki and be able to add pages for their own projects. They should be able to edit pages and delete information that they no longer want to be a part of the wiki.

8. What are the advantages of the project?
The advantages of the project are that students will learn how easy it is to post their information on their project to the wiki. They will also feel a sense of pride in the fact that their information is on the internet and can share their project with people at home. Also, the case suggests that students will take more care and time with their work if they know that other students will have access to the information and be able to see it. Another advantage is that students that don’t usually like to share in the classroom environment might be more willing to share in the wiki environment.

9. What are the disadvantages of the project?
The disadvantages of the project are that there could be issues getting all students an email address if the school does not offer them one. There are sites that give email addresses for free but sometimes those can come with advertising attached to them that might be unsuitable to the student. Another disadvantage would be that not all students have time to work on the wiki because there are a limited number of computers in the classroom.

10. What types of effective instructional strategies are included?
There are different types of effective instructional strategies being implemented by using a wiki. The first would be the peer editing and review between project partners and classmates. Students would have access to see other projects and review and comment on their wiki. It would also then help to improve their skills be seeing what they wanted to change or improve on their own site. Collaboration is another instructional strategy where the students have the ability to work together and students that might be shy in the classroom setting could come alive within a wiki without feeling self-conscious.

11. What are the possibilities that the innovation can be transferred to other teachers, subject content and different school settings?
The possibilities for the wiki are endless. It can be used as a tool for projects within the classroom. It could be used as a school or even district wide project. Wikis could be used for communication purposes between teachers and parents too. All subjects could use a wiki in one form or another. Wikis are not just limited to a certain subject. Math teachers could use them for adding links to topics that students are struggling with so that they can use them at home. Science teachers could use them to have a log of all of the experiments that the class performed over the course of the year. ELA teachers could use them to have students share their writing and have other students peer edit them online. The possibilities for the wiki are endless within the education setting.

12. Other resources/articles you used to evaluate this innovation.
Advantages and Disadvantages. (n.d.). In //WikiEducator//. Retrieved February 3, 2011, from http://wikieducator.org/Wikieducator_tutorial/What_is_a_wiki/Advantages_and_disadvantages

Grant, L. (2006, May ). Using Wikis in Schools: a Case Study. In //Future.lab//. Retrieved February 3, 2011, from http://rhazen.edublogs.org/files/2008/01/wikis_in_schools_futurelab.pdf