Enhancing Student Learning and Engagement Through Collaborative Learning Spaces

Isabel Asensio, Ph.D.SWCOLT, Friday, March 4, 2016

Outline• ACTFL Position Statement• Challenges • Overcoming these challenges• Focus:– Collaborative Learning Spaces

– Edmodo– Google Classroom and Google Drive

– Student Response Systems– Socrative and Quizlet

• Practice

Why student engagement?

• Student engagement is one of the most important factors that affect teaching and student motivation to learn (Beeland, 2002).

Why CLS and SRS?

• Collaborative Learning Spaces and Student Response Systems may foster three modalities of learning:– Visual learning– Auditory learning– Tactile learning

Why CLS and SRS? (Cont.)

• CLS and SRS provide a variety of elements of texts, graphics, sound, animation, and video [that] help teachers create lessons that interest and engage students during the learning process (Beeland, 2002).

Literature Review

• Students build learning communities by working collaboratively to construct knowledge (Kabilan et al., 2010).

• Students have reported high preference for the SRS use, and believe it helped them in their learning (Blood et al., 2008).

ACTFL Position Statement on the Role of Technology in Language Learning

“The American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL) acknowledges and encourages using the potential of technology as a tool to support and enhance classroom-based language instruction. […] The use of technology should never

be the goal in and of itself, but rather one tool for helping language learners to use the target language in culturally

appropriate ways to accomplish authentic tasks.”

Challenges

• Time• Balance• Variety of skill sets for students

Did you know that…?

Edgar Dale’sCone of Experience (1969)

How do I overcome these challenges?

• Start with a focus:– Instructional design– Student engagement– Student learning

10 Reasons Education is Moving to the Cloud

1. Easy to use

2. Any type of device

3. Fast to get started

4. Better student collaboration

5. Extending the curriculum to anywhere and anytime

6. Minimal upfront investment

7. Easy to scale

8. Lower operating costs

9. Lower hosting costs

10. Reduce electricity and environmental costs and noise

Collaborative Learning Spaces

Collaborative Learning Spaces

1. How do CLS help teachers and students?

2. Samples:1. Edmodo

2. Google Drive and Classroom

Collaborative Learning Spaces can…

• Empower students to explore course content and ideas.

• Encourage students to seek and provide support among peers.

• Encourage students to apply their abilities and knowledge in tasks that enhance learning.

• Provides an environment with multiple points from which learning may occur.

Within the World Language Classroom, CLS can…

• Increase the power of reading in the target language.

• Increase the use of the target language outside the classroom.

• Strengthen student writing skills in the target language.

• Integrate the World Language Standards.

Edmodowww.edmodo.com

Top three uses of Edmodo1. Assessment

2. Project-based learning

3. Foreign language practice

Google DriveTop uses of Google Drive

• Docs

• Sheets

• Slides

• Forms

Use Docs to improve the writing process.

Use Docs to translate letters, permission slips, newsletters for parents.

Use Sheets to track student attendance and homework.

Use Slides to create engaging and dynamic presentations.

Use Forms to give your students a pre-assessment at the beginning of class. Modify your instruction based on the results.

Use Forms to survey students at the beginning of the year to find out their interests.

Use Forms to encourage students to read by having them complete their reading records electronically.

Student Response Systems

Student Response Systems

1. How do CLS help teachers and students?

2. Samples:1. Socrative

2. Quizlet

Student Response Systems

• A wireless response system that allows teachers to request information and for students to respond by using a “clicker” or hand-held response pad to send his or her information to a receiver.

Benefits of SRS (Lowery, 2005)

For teachers

• All three areas of responsibility: teaching, research, and service.

For students

• In the following areas:

1) class attendance and preparation

2) comprehension

3) participation in class

4) peer/collaborative learning

5) enrollment retention

6) student satisfaction.

Socrativewww.socrative.com

• A cloud-based student response system.• Allows teachers to create simple quizzes

that students can take quickly on laptops or, more often, via classroom tablet computers or their own smart phones.

Teacher dashboard

Student dashboard

Reasons I like it

• Created by a group of teachers.• Interactive and engaging.• Provides immediate feedback via formative

assessments.• Paperless.• Saves time when grading assignments.• Can be used on any device, on any platform.

Ways to use it

• Create short quizzes (true/false, multiple choice, short response questions)

• Exit ticket• Pre-assessment/Post-assessment• Upload premade quizzes• Collect background knowledge• Quick check for understanding

Quizletwww.quizlet.com

• A free website that provides learning tools for students.

• It was created by high school sophomore Andrew Sutherland in 2005.

• All of the material is user-generated.

Ways students can use it

PLAY AND STUDY!•Flashcards—Review the material, shuffle/randomize, or listen with audio.•Learn—Track correct/incorrect answers and retest the ones you missed.•Speller—Type what you hear in this audio-powered study mode.•Test—Randomly generate tests based on your flashcard set.•Scatter—Race against the clock to drag and match terms/definitions.•Space Race—Type in the answer as terms/definitions scroll across the screen.

Quizlet

Study and play options

Questions?

Any questions or comments?

Thank you!

Thanks for your time.

ReferencesBeeland, William D. “Student engagement, visual learning and technology: Can

interactive whiteboards help.” Annual Conference of the Association of Information Technology for Teaching Education. 2002.

Blood, Erika, and Richard Neel. “Using student response systems in lecture-based instruction: Does it change student engagement and learning?.” Journal of Technology and Teacher Education 16.3 (2008): 375-383.

Saqlain, Nadeem. “Technology and Foreign Language Pedagogy: What the Literature Says.” Educause Review Online. 2012.

Lowery, Roger C. “Teaching and Learning with Interactive Student Response Systems: A Comparison of Commercial Products in the Higher-Education Market.” Annual Meeting of the Southwestern Social Science Association, March 23 - 26, 2005, New Orleans, LA.

Infographic 1: “What Teachers and Parents Feel About Technology in the Classroom” by Santosh Bhaskar K. 2013. Website: EdTechReview.

Infographic 2: “Surveying teachers in the classroom: Blended Learning on the Rise” by Team Versal. 2015. Website: Versal.com

Infographic 3: “How Much do Students Love Technology?” by the Editorial Team. 2013. Website: EdTechReview.

Infographic 4: “Teachers Love Technology” by OnlineUniversities.com