Time for Reflection
Before I start this course, I wanted to spend a few minutes reflecting on what digital technology meant and how it is changing. Prior to 2020, digital content in my classroom meant saving larger files on the shared drive to save paper. It meant delivering the class content via PowerPoint and demonstrating examples on the white board. This picture is not my classroom, but it is surprisingly similar. Just like the instructor of this classroom, I had a tiny space of white board available behind the podium to the left of the screen to do physics equations, draw pictures of diverging radiation beams and stick figure patients. Utilizing more whiteboard space meant rolling up the screen, then pulling it down to continue with the slides – covering up the example I just drew on the board!
It wasn’t ideal but we made it work. I am sure the instructor of this classroom and I could have a very animated conversation about the limitations of this setup 🙂 Another piece of technology I incorporated into my lessons was the iClicker. There are newer tools to engage students, but it worked well, and allowed me to assess the level of knowledge transfer. The pandemic forced us all to learn quickly and change our teaching methods to deliver the same content over an online platform, Zoom in my case. How do we deliver quizzes? How do we uphold the integrity of the test material? Eventually solutions to these challenges emerged.
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Hi there! I’m curious about your thoughts regarding iClicker – do you still use it, or have you found something better to replace it? There was a huge buzz about it within my faculty, years ago (I can’t remember how many) – but I didn’t realize until reading your post that I’ve heard nothing in recent years.
Hi Lauren, I do still use it, as my small RT school invested in purchasing a number of the iClickers and generally a student is provided a clicker to use for the year. They work perfectly for multiple choice answers but are extremely cumbersome if you have to enter any text at all. (Do you remember T9 predictive text on the analogue cell phones? Think of that!) I have been thinking of looking into different options, only because of that issue. They are a huge value add to my classroom. Not only does it allow anonymous learner engagement, but it allows me to gauge the level of understanding. I consistently get positive feedback from the students as well.
While reading your blog, I felt like I was exploring a new world where a transition in the education system took place. The entire idea you have written about describes your valuable experiences. I, too, faced some difficulties while adjusting to the new educational system based on technology, but with practice, I personally feel that, besides a few disadvantages, it has very prominent advantages.
Thank you for your comments Anchal, you are spot ot, it is a transition period, that my small school is still undergoing. With resources such as budget and time being limited, learning new skills and finding time to apply them is difficult. Any course prep time is usually spent on updating course content, or cross referencing to new textbooks. I agree that there are many advantages and that is why I am so happy to be here in this class!