The Big Three 1
Running head:THE BIG THREE QUESTIONS
The Big Three Questions
Elizabeth Kennedy
University of WestGeorgia
The Big Three Questions
As CobbCounty has worked to achieve the goals of the 21st Century Classroom Initiative over the last three years, decision makers have met with representatives from a large number of educational technology companies. These companies offer many options that promise to transform teaching and increase student engagement and performance. Now that combination VCR/DVD players, LCD projectors, and interactive whiteboards have been installed in every classroom, the school system is considering adding student response systems. Our school has some previous experience with using student response systems having used the Beyond Question system for the last five years. The results of using this system have been less than expected. Though we have three class sets of answer remotes and receivers, the sets are rarely in use. Last year for example, the sets were checked out for less than 30 days total. Additionally, surveys of teachers using the system show that it is used almost exclusively for logging students’ responses to multiple choice questions and that higher order thinking questions are largely, if not completely, absent.For these reasons, I held a skeptical view as to whether the addition of a student response system in every classroom was worth the cost; however, having now researched this technology more thoroughly, I have come to the conclusion that with proper training, teachers and students will truly benefit from the implementation of this technology.
What can this technology really do?
It is important to understand what student response systems are and what they can do. They are known by many names—classroom, audience, and personal response systems are other common terms—but generally, they all perform the same functions. Since CobbCounty has demonstrated a preference for the iRespond system, I will use the company’s terminology by referring to the devices as a student response system and describe the specific functions of their products. The iRespond system includes a set of student remotes, a teacher remote, and “The Teacher’s Dashboard” which is the software used to collect and display the results of students’ responses( teacher can use the software to prepare multiple choice or survey questions ahead of time or on the spur of the moment. Once the teacher has displayed the question, students use their remotes to select their answers. The information from student choices is aggregated on the teacher’s computer, and she can then display the results for herself or for students in the form of a chart or graph. The software saves this information for teachers to return to later for grading purposing or to make instructional decisions.
It should be noted that iRespond offers a variety of student response systems.The simplest form, called the UltraLite, offers students the ability to select answer choices from A to E. At the other end of the spectrum is the iRespond-Touch which has a touch-activated display screen. The questions and choices can be seen on the remotes themselves thereby eliminating the need for the teacher to display questions on a screen or on paper. This remote offers students a greater variety of answer choices and even allows them to write directly on the screen using a stylus and send their written answers to the teacher. Though this level of remote technology is the most impressive, it comes with a large price tag attached and is therefore unlikely to be selected by CobbCounty due to budget constraints.
What specific and necessary problem will this piece of technology solve?
Teachers can use student response systems in a variety of ways to accomplish many different goals. Research on the use of these systems in colleges and universities has shown that instructors use them to evaluate students’ prior knowledge or misconceptions about an upcoming unit of study, judge students’ comprehension of material learned and adjust instruction accordingly, and promote greater engagement and participation in learning (Draper & Brown, 2004). When considering CobbCounty’s direction for student achievement, the most obvious connection between this research and the school system’s goals is the support it offers teachers in measuring student achievement (CobbCountySchool District, 2009).
In the last two years, CobbCounty’s Curriculum and Instruction Department has focused on building teachers’ formative assessment skills. Studies have shown that teachers fail to assess, either formally or informally, the majority of lessons they teach, thus they have no evidence as to whether or not a lesson helped students to meet learning standards (Schmoker, 2006).The student response system is an excellent tool to help teachers integrate formative assessment into their day-to-day routines. Lowery (2005) explains that student response systems enable teachers to give students timely feedback and help the instructor to determine whether to move forward or review content taught during a lesson. In striving to build more assessment-centered classrooms while maintaining student engagement, teachers will find that the iRespond system helps them to accomplish both goals.
One of the primary concerns of all teachers and administrators in CobbCounty is student performance on state and national standardized testing. Student response systems have been shown to raise standardized test scores (Boyle & Nicol, 2003). This result can be attributed to several factors. As mentioned earlier, these systems provide teachers with an easy way to track students’ progress toward meeting learning standards. Teachers who are aware of individual student progress are able to adjust and differentiate their instruction in a way that better meets the needs of all learnersthereby increasing student learning and improving test scores (Black, Harrison, Lee, Marshall, & Wiliam,2004). Additionally, students report that they enjoy using student response systems which leads to greater attentiveness and better understanding of the material the teacher presents (Byrd, Coleman, Werneth, 2004).
What other technology already exists to solve your problem? In what way is the proposed innovation an improvement over other options?
At this point, there is no better technological option available to CobbCounty teachers that will lead to the same results in helping teachers integrate formative assessment more easily. Though many schools, including our own, have access to several sets of student response systems, the need to check these out from the media center, install the software,set up the receiver, and pass out remotes is a deterrent to many teachers and drastically reduces use. The installation of a full student response system in every classroom and sufficient training for teachers in how to use the system will enable teachers to use the remotes without a great deal of prior planning. Teachers can simply ask students to grab their remotes, provide a question and possible answers, and quickly assess whether students have grasped the content or need further review. No other technology can help teachers to seamlessly integrate formative assessment in this way.
Even teachers who are already strong in assessing their students throughout the learning process will find the student response system to be a welcome addition to their formative assessment toolbox. Teachers who use low-tech assessment techniques such as quick-check quizzes, tickets-out-the-door, or observation must spend a great deal of time scoring work, analyzing results, and determining next steps. Student response systems eliminate the time needed to score work and analyze results. “The Teacher’s Dashboard” can accomplish those tasks for the teacher in a matter of seconds and track the data over time so that teachers can more easily evaluate progress. The student response system will reduce a teacher’s workload, giving her more time to plan effective instruction.
As you can see, student response systems will provide CobbCounty schools with an invaluable tool for assessing student learning while reducing the work required of the teacher to accomplish this goal. Student learning and teacher instruction will improve as a result of the installation of these devices. On the path to turning every room into a 21st century classroom, student response systems are an important step in merging technology with improved learning.
References
Black, P., Harrison, C., Lee, C., Marshall, B., & Wiliam, D. (2004). Working inside the black box: Assessment for
learning in the classroom. Phi Delta Kappan, 86(1), 9-21. Retrieved from
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Boyle J.T. & Nicol D.J. (2003) Using classroom communicationsystems to support interaction and discussion in
large class settings. Association of Learning Technology Journal, 11, 43–57. Retrieved from
Byrd, G., Coleman, S., & Werneth, C. (2004). Exploring the universe together: Cooperative quizzes with and
without a classroom performance system in Astronomy 101. Astronomy Education Review, 3(1), 26-30.
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CobbCountySchool District (2009). Direction for student achievement. Retrieved from
Draper, S.W., & Brown, M. (2004). Increasing interactivity in lectures using an electronic voting system. Journal of
Computer Assisted Learning, 20(2), 81-94. Retrieved from
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iRespond. (2010). K-12 Solutions. Retrieved March 20, 2010, from
Lowery, R.C. (2005). Teaching and learning with interactive student response systems: A comparison of
commercial products in the higher-education market.Wilmington, NC: University of North Carolina at Wilmington, Department of Political Science. Retrieved from
Schmoker, M. (2006). Results now: How we can achieve unprecedented improvements in teaching and learning.
Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.