Providing Assistance to Absent Students
Educational Need
Personal experience has shown that on any given day between 10% and 20% of students are absent from school. The reasons for absences are many: illness, school business, family vacations, suspension, skipping, etc. Many of these reasons are beyond a student’s control. Absent students miss instructional time: going over previous assignments, direct instruction, discussion, guided practice on new material, and new assignments. Academic performance of absent students tends to suffer; with performance degrading further with prolonged absences. The traditional method of assisting absent students is to attempt to send home textbooks, hardcopies of worksheets, and possibly notes, and hoping the student works on them. Otherwise, the teacher waits for a student to return and hands him/her a pile of work and gives a brief explanation during bell time. It is challenging for the teacher to get students “caught up” when they return. It generally cannot be accomplished during the school day as new instruction is occurring. Before or after school sessions are difficult to schedule unless students have a source of transportation. Lunch sessions are inconvenient for both the teacher and the student and are often too short to be effective. The worst case scenario is that lessons do not get made up or the student resorts to copying (without understanding) the work of other students to get out from under a backlog of assignments. Chronically absent students may become frustrated and drop out. With the current emphasis on high stakes testing, even a few absences can affect student outcomes. With more and more states linking teacher pay to student performance, teachers need to take the issue of attendance to heart. Realistically, the methods suggested here can benefit all students, not just the absent ones.
The Role of Technology
Technology can be used to mitigate the negative impacts of absences in several ways. Technology allows lessons to be “captured” and accessed at a time and place that is convenient for the student. Technology allows students access to the teacher and classmates outside of school hours and allows students to submit assignments while they are out of school. Technology is not a complete solution to the problem as accessibility can be an issue for students of lower socioeconomic status. For prolonged, scheduled absences, it may be possible to loan the necessary technology to students as long as they have connectivity.
Relevant Research
There is not an abundance of research in this area. I suspect that this due to the fact that most public schools view attendance as a student problem, not a teaching problem. The research I’ve found focuses on college attendance. Results are generally anecdotal, largely due to poor tracking of student attendance at the college level. One study (Randy Moore. (2003). Attendance and performance. Journal of College Science Teaching, 32(6), 367-371) states that there is a strong correlation between attendance and high performance and between low attendance and poor performance. The study cautions that teacher efforts may not help students with chronic attendance issues, “Poorly motivated students who miss lots of classes will probably make the lowest grades, despite our best efforts to help them learn by offering extended office hours, help sessions, and so forth” (Moore, p. 391).
Resources
There should be no additional technology costs for this project as all the hardware and software needed is currently available within the high school or can be set up using Web 2.0 technology available through the internet. The real investment will be in teacher time; time to learn to use the technology and time to create the instructional materials.
Plan for Implementation
There are many possibilities to be explored. and not all of them can be fully implemented in an 8 week course. Options that will be considered initially are:
• making the online version of the textbook available to students (possible immediately)
• making electronic copies of handouts and worksheets available to students and encouraging them to return work electronically (possible immediately)
• providing links to online resources that cover the content missed (possible immediately)
• capturing discussion notes using an interactive whiteboard and posting them to the class website (requires experimentation - easily accomplished short term)
• capturing lessons using podcasting/videocasting technology and posting them to the class website (requires experimentation - longer term)
Addressing the Four Common Places of Education
The role of the teacher in this project is to capture instructional objects and make them accessible to students in a timely manner, be available for answering questions and assessing performance outside of school hours, and providing regular feedback to students during extended absences.
The role of the learner is to be responsible for taking advantage of the options offered and to do so in a timely manner.
The subject matter for this project will be limited to high school chemistry but the methods could be adapted to almost any subject area.
There are multiple settings for the project. The teacher will be generating many of the materials at school, some concurrent with the actual lessons. Others will need to be generated during planning periods or away from the school. The setting for the student can be at school, at home, or even “on the road”.
Sunday, March 21, 2010
Wednesday, March 10, 2010
Final Reflection: Growth and Goals
Growth
I noticed substantial growth during CEP 811. Growth, not so much from learning new instructional strategies, but in using those strategies within the realm of classroom technology. I was actually relieved to see that good teaching is pretty much the same in a virtual classroom as it is in a traditional “bricks and mortar” classroom. Emily Stone’s discussion of online teaching was very encouraging and helped to alleviate some apprehensions I have about implementing a blended, or fully virtual, classroom.
Looking back, I believe my greatest growth came from actually experiencing Web 2.0 applications and seeing that they are within the reach of my generation of digital immigrants. I was pleasantly surprised at how easy it was to set up blogs, wikis, websites, and collaborative documents. Linking these objects together was quite straightforward and allows for richer learning opportunities. Considerably more painful, but no less enlightening, was creating a WebQuest and a StAIR. The amount of planning, research, and design that goes into writing quality instructional objects is considerably more than goes into preparing a traditional lecture. In a traditional classroom setting, a teacher can adapt to changing situations and instructional needs on the fly. When developing an online object, the teacher has to think through many possible scenarios and anticipate anything the learner might need or mistakes they might make.
Goals
I would say that I have reached some of my goals. Learning Web 2.0 technology was the first step. The second step, a huge step, is to review my curriculum and determine how I want to incorporate these tools into the classroom in a way that is meaningful, and not just a “bells and whistles” replacement for old school pen and paper activities. The third step would be to start building a series of instructional objects that could be used within a traditional classroom, then adding them to a blended curriculum, and finally compiling them into a completely online learning experience. My district has made Moodle available to teachers and I need to start working with it in a more serious manner. There are several things that I can do to reach these goals. An obvious choice is to continue with MSU’s Educational Technology Program. Another option is to lobby for professional development time to work with instructional technology.
I noticed substantial growth during CEP 811. Growth, not so much from learning new instructional strategies, but in using those strategies within the realm of classroom technology. I was actually relieved to see that good teaching is pretty much the same in a virtual classroom as it is in a traditional “bricks and mortar” classroom. Emily Stone’s discussion of online teaching was very encouraging and helped to alleviate some apprehensions I have about implementing a blended, or fully virtual, classroom.
Looking back, I believe my greatest growth came from actually experiencing Web 2.0 applications and seeing that they are within the reach of my generation of digital immigrants. I was pleasantly surprised at how easy it was to set up blogs, wikis, websites, and collaborative documents. Linking these objects together was quite straightforward and allows for richer learning opportunities. Considerably more painful, but no less enlightening, was creating a WebQuest and a StAIR. The amount of planning, research, and design that goes into writing quality instructional objects is considerably more than goes into preparing a traditional lecture. In a traditional classroom setting, a teacher can adapt to changing situations and instructional needs on the fly. When developing an online object, the teacher has to think through many possible scenarios and anticipate anything the learner might need or mistakes they might make.
Goals
I would say that I have reached some of my goals. Learning Web 2.0 technology was the first step. The second step, a huge step, is to review my curriculum and determine how I want to incorporate these tools into the classroom in a way that is meaningful, and not just a “bells and whistles” replacement for old school pen and paper activities. The third step would be to start building a series of instructional objects that could be used within a traditional classroom, then adding them to a blended curriculum, and finally compiling them into a completely online learning experience. My district has made Moodle available to teachers and I need to start working with it in a more serious manner. There are several things that I can do to reach these goals. An obvious choice is to continue with MSU’s Educational Technology Program. Another option is to lobby for professional development time to work with instructional technology.
Monday, March 1, 2010
Online Learning Technologies
The topic of this post is online learning technologies, specifically those suggested in the Michigan Merit Curriculum’s Online Experience Guideline Companion Document .
A Technology I Would Like To Try
A technology that I could use in my chemistry classes is podcasting/videocasting. Utilizing this technology benefits students that have missed class due to illness, personal business, or an athletic/music event. Every year, several students are out for extended periods of time due to family vacations, suspensions, rehabilitation, or self-destructive issues. Even students that attend class every day may have trouble with a concept and need to hear it or see it again. By making podcasts out of key points, students could learn in a time slot that meets their individual needs and when they are motivated, or at least ready, to learn.
The Time Is Right
I think that the time is right for experimenting with podcasting given that my district recently purchased sound systems, eno white boards, and document cameras for every classroom. While all this technology is wonderful, there is still a possible issue of inequity due to accessibility. Some students, especially those of lower socio-economic status, may not own a type of technology that allows them to view the podcasts. Likewise, they may not be able to access school technology after hours as they must ride the bus home.
Content Delivery Options
Pretty much anything I do in the classroom could be captured as a podcast/videocast. Capturing voice and prepared lecture slides is easily done. With the eno board I am able to make screen captures of spontaneous discussions and solutions to homework problems. The most challenging content to capture is laboratory experiments. These would most likely need to be scripted and performed by the teacher during a planning period, although it is possible that students could be recruited to help outside a regular lab period. There has been some debate among my department members over capturing laboratory exercises. Some teachers feel that the whole point of labs is a “hands on” experience with science. Others feel that simulated experiences don’t instill knowledge as well. In any event, over time, I could capture enough content that the class could be offered in a variety of formats, from simple objects, to blended instruction, to fully online instruction.
Some Concerns
I do have several concerns about podcasting. One concern is the amount of time required to pre and post produce materials. I won’t get a feel for how big an issue this is until I actually make a few podcasts. A second concern is incorporating copyrighted material from textbooks and transparencies into my podcasts. I don’t want to have to make new versions of everything so that when I post something for the world to see I won’t violate copyright laws.
Reflections On Using Other Technologies
Looking over the table at the end of the Online Experience Guideline Companion Document, I don’t see any online technologies that would be hard to use with my students and all would be beneficial. There are some that are easy to implement and some that are more challenging. My district has Moodle available and I worked with it over the summer to capture research and discussions surrounding high school transformation. An electronic portfolio could be easily implemented through Google Docs, although I would put the burden of managing the content of the portfolio on the student. Simulations just take time to locate and even longer to write. WebQuests are time and labor intensive so I probably would not use too many of them in an already packed curriculum. Test preparation is also easy to do online in a variety of formats. I am concerned about actual online testing as it would be difficult to validate that the student is actually the one performing the work.
A Technology I Would Like To Try
A technology that I could use in my chemistry classes is podcasting/videocasting. Utilizing this technology benefits students that have missed class due to illness, personal business, or an athletic/music event. Every year, several students are out for extended periods of time due to family vacations, suspensions, rehabilitation, or self-destructive issues. Even students that attend class every day may have trouble with a concept and need to hear it or see it again. By making podcasts out of key points, students could learn in a time slot that meets their individual needs and when they are motivated, or at least ready, to learn.
The Time Is Right
I think that the time is right for experimenting with podcasting given that my district recently purchased sound systems, eno white boards, and document cameras for every classroom. While all this technology is wonderful, there is still a possible issue of inequity due to accessibility. Some students, especially those of lower socio-economic status, may not own a type of technology that allows them to view the podcasts. Likewise, they may not be able to access school technology after hours as they must ride the bus home.
Content Delivery Options
Pretty much anything I do in the classroom could be captured as a podcast/videocast. Capturing voice and prepared lecture slides is easily done. With the eno board I am able to make screen captures of spontaneous discussions and solutions to homework problems. The most challenging content to capture is laboratory experiments. These would most likely need to be scripted and performed by the teacher during a planning period, although it is possible that students could be recruited to help outside a regular lab period. There has been some debate among my department members over capturing laboratory exercises. Some teachers feel that the whole point of labs is a “hands on” experience with science. Others feel that simulated experiences don’t instill knowledge as well. In any event, over time, I could capture enough content that the class could be offered in a variety of formats, from simple objects, to blended instruction, to fully online instruction.
Some Concerns
I do have several concerns about podcasting. One concern is the amount of time required to pre and post produce materials. I won’t get a feel for how big an issue this is until I actually make a few podcasts. A second concern is incorporating copyrighted material from textbooks and transparencies into my podcasts. I don’t want to have to make new versions of everything so that when I post something for the world to see I won’t violate copyright laws.
Reflections On Using Other Technologies
Looking over the table at the end of the Online Experience Guideline Companion Document, I don’t see any online technologies that would be hard to use with my students and all would be beneficial. There are some that are easy to implement and some that are more challenging. My district has Moodle available and I worked with it over the summer to capture research and discussions surrounding high school transformation. An electronic portfolio could be easily implemented through Google Docs, although I would put the burden of managing the content of the portfolio on the student. Simulations just take time to locate and even longer to write. WebQuests are time and labor intensive so I probably would not use too many of them in an already packed curriculum. Test preparation is also easy to do online in a variety of formats. I am concerned about actual online testing as it would be difficult to validate that the student is actually the one performing the work.
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