15 Ways to Engage Students with 1:1 Computing

1. 15 Ways to Engage Students with 1:1 Computing Laptop Institute, Mitchell, SD June 10 – 13, 2007 Lynette Molstad Gorder Dakota State University Madison, SD

2. Active Learning Engaging students with learning strategies using 1:1 computing draws students into active involvement and keeps them involved. Active learning take time and practice. Teaching strategies using 1:1 computing adds excitement to the classroom.

3. Electronic Portfolios • Electronic portfolios can be created for each class or each topic as needed. Documents needed for the class or topic can be stored within the portfolio. Save files directly to a folder to create a portfolio of online work. • http://www.elearnspace.org/doing/portfolio.htm

4. E-mail • Collect student e-mail addresses at the beginning of the school year. Use e-mail to have student share information in class to put together short reports. • Divide students into groups of two or three. Have them open e-mail and write answers to quizzes. Students will email the quiz to the teacher along with others members in the group. The quiz is then corrected in classes and can be e-mailed again with the correct score and answers.

5. Games • In recent years, electronic games, home computers, and the Internet have assumed an important place in the lives of students. New media are causing major changes in the nature of learning. There is a vast gap between the way people learn and the way in which new generations approach information and knowledge. The interaction of the learner with the technology offers many advantages: flexibility, distribution, and adaptability. Another domain with tremendous potential for reaching, motivating, and fully involving learners is the world of games. Games constitute the most interactive multimedia resource in our culture today (Begona Gros, 2003)

6. Games • Jeopardy • Puzzles • http://zone.msn.com/en/root/default.htm • http://www.funbrain.com/ • http://www.lethsd.ab.ca/mmh/games/top100.htm • http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/91404/free_educational_online_games_for_kids.html • http://www.makeworksheets.com/samples/

7. Graphic Organizers • Graphic organizers are appropriate as visual teaching tools, in digital format, as visual worksheets, student study guides and as interactive teaching tools. • http://www.eduplace.com/graphicorganizer/ • http://www.eduplace.com/kids/hme/k_5/graphorg/ • http://www.teachervision.fen.com/graphic-organizers/printable/6293.html • http://www.edhelper.com/teachers/graphic_organizers.htm?gclid=CN6LhbSa_YsCFQlQWAodnn42bQ

8. Group Investigation • Students are divided into groups and given a topic list to review for a determined amount of time. Each group can ask questions of the teacher or another group. Each person has a role and uses technology to investigate, research, and present the topic to the class. • Students are divided into groups and given a problem to investigate. The students complete a form provided by the teacher to analyze and solve the problem. Solutions can be presented to the class using technology.

9. Internet Sites and Portals • Links to lesson plans • Educational games, • Online videos • Interactive sites for students • Help sites for students • General resource sites for students and teachers • Online rubrics • Interactive puzzles and tests • E-books, web quests and online libraries

10. JigSaw • Single Jigsaw: Form groups of three or four. Assign each person part of the material to learn. Allow preparation time using technology. Students come back together in their groups and teach each other. • Double Jigsaw: Same as above except students return to groups that are preparing the same section of material to work together. They discuss how best to teach the material. Then the students return to their original groups to teach their section and learn the other sections.

11. Question Caper • Students (or groups of students) script or keyboard questions from homework or previous material. • Questions are sent to the teacher and other students. • Students and groups answer or solve the questions. Questions can be used for future exams.

12. Round Robin • This is a strategy to help students set goals, solve problems, review, and brainstorm issues. • Students write individual responses to questions or problems on the computer. • Students are divided into groups and share ideas and responses in a round robin fashion . A leader and recorder are selected. Teams share their ideas and post for all to see.

13. Rubrics • Involve students in preparing rubrics using templates provided on the Internet. • http://school.discovery.com/schrockguide/assess.html#builders • http://school.discovery.com/schrockguide/assess.html#rubrics • http://rubrics4teachers.com/ • http://intranet.cps.k12.il.us/Assessments/Ideas_and_Rubrics/Rubric_Bank/rubric_bank.html

14. SQ3R • SQ3R is a strategy used to help students read content material. • Survey, Question, Read, Recite, Review • Students use technology to complete each part of the strategy. • Teachers can help with templates for any part of the strategy.

15. Structured Note Taking • Use an electronic template to help students process what they hear and make sense of their notes. • The form is provided by the teacher, and students use the form to take notes anytime the teacher lectures or discusses. • Notes are kept in an electronic folder

16. Think-Pair-Share • Students spend time thinking about a specific topic. They can script or keyboard notes about the topic. • Then students discuss in pairs followed by sharing their responses to the whole group. The students are taking notes on their computer while students are presenting on the topic.

17. Web Quests • A WebQuest is defined, by Bernie Dodge at San Diego State University, as "an inquiry-oriented activity in which some or all of the information that learners interact with comes from resources on the Internet." • http://school.discovery.com/schrockguide/webquest/webquest.html • http://www.kn.pacbell.com/wired/fil • http://www.filamentality.com/

18. Writing to Think • Students spend two to five minutes writing everything they know about a topic just studied. Then they get together in groups to sort and combine the ideas to form a complete list of ideas or questions. • The organized lists are shared with the whole class.

19. Active Learning Teaching strategies using technology must include active involvement by students. Students need to be busy, engaged, and involved in learning. With active teaching and learning, students concentrate, are ready to learn, and feel secure in the classroom. They become self-motivating and self-managing. They start to take responsibility for their learning.

20. 1:1 Computing