This week, I chose the article "How To Do More With Less: Lessons From Online Learning" by Liz Pape, Tracy Sheehan, and Colleen Worrell. I chose this article because I think that this is something that every teacher needs to know - especially in this economy, when teachers are having to "do with less."
This article has two parts: examples of free/online classroom resources, and real-life examples.
In the first part, the authors briefly explain various online, free resources that teachers can use in their class: Wikis, Blogs, blended classrooms, flipped classrooms, Glogster, VoiceThread, Prezi, Popplet, My Fake Wall, Fotobabble, and Photovisi are all explained.
In the second half of the article, real life examples are shown. For example, we learn that in Jeanie Keyes-Plante's seventh grade literacy lab, her students construct a digital storyboard, using Photo Story 3, which allows for pictures, text, and audio to help transform a book report into an interactive, fun storyboard. The article also describes a successful blended classroom: Karen Bernier, an 8th grade math teacher, turned her classroom into a blended classroom by using Khan Academy videos, and then eventually making her own podcasts and videos. She found that her students excelled with the integration of technology. Her struggling students moved up a level more quickly, and her students often invited their parents to participate.
Ultimately, I feel that this article was really written to advocate blending classrooms. Every other resource had only two or three sentences describing the benefits of the digital resource, but the blended classroom has four paragraphs devoted to it.
Despite reading this article, I'm still a bit suspect of blended classrooms. I suppose that these classrooms can be great for certain students, but I feel that more study needs to be done on just how effective they are.
Thank you,
Lily
Pape, L.,
Sheehan, T., & Worrell, C. (2012). How To Do More With Less: Lessons From
Online Learning. Learning and Leading With Technology, 39 (6),
18-22.
