General Technology in a Large Lecture Classroom

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Professors often compete for student’s attention. Many times technology such as laptops cell phones and iPods complete distract them from the class they are attending. Simply adding more technology to your class will not improve their engagement. However, coupling technology with an appropriate instructional strategy can improve student engagement.

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Is there technology that can help me engage so many students in the classroom setting?

Many faculty members use Student Response systems.  These are small hand held devices where students can press a button to register a response to a question or problem.  The software instantly aggregates the data and projects it as a histogram to the class.  Instructors can use clickers in the following ways:

  • To ask a  “gimme” question from the first couple of pages of the assigned text to determine if the student even opened the book/visited the site.
  • To ask a “gimme” question from the last couple of pages of the assigned text to determine if the student read all the material.

      • One instructor wrote “I was surprised when I asked an easy question from the beginning and end of the assigned reading. It appeared that a substantial number of students read the first part, but didn’t make it all the way through the readings.”

      • To ask a “general thrust of a theory question”  e.g.  Semiology is the study of…….
      • To ask a set of increasingly complex questions that assess the overall level of comprehension
      • To encourage peer instruction
      • To collect data about learning preferences to determine teaching approaches
      • To offer quizzes and exams
      • To encourage shy students to participate

How do I find out what technology is available in my classroom?

Go to http://classrooms.uiowa.edu/ for an inventory of classroom equipment

Can I get help learning and using new technologies?

ITS offers training for a variety of instructional technologies. 

Details can be found at: http://its.uiowa.edu/training/
These course include ICON, clickers, wikis, blogs, effective uses of PowerPoint, and more

The ICON Support Team offers individualized training or departmental training and support for faculty members. Contact icon-support@uiowa.edu for more information.

The Student Instructional Technology Assistant Program (SITA) offers individualized training and support for faculty members.  SITAs work with you to select the technology that best suits your needs, train you to use it effectively and support you throughout the semester.

For more information about the SITA program contact Steve Silva, program coordinator at stephen-silva@uiowa.edu or 335-5627.  http://at.its.uiowa.edu/training/sita/index.shtml

What types of technology will save me time teaching a large lecture class?

Quizzes can be administered, graded and grades transferred to the grade book by the ICON quiz feature.


The drop box feature can help you collect, and return student work so that you don’t cut into class time.  You can offer feedback in the comment section and see at a glance who has submitted work.

  • Creating Outlook folders for student emails will help you to keep track of the various types of student e-mails you receive. Inform students that when they email you to always write an abbreviated version of the class name (e.g. IC for Intercultural Communication) and the specific subject of the message (e.g. Conflict Extra Credit) in the Header, as opposed to a general header like Extra Credit.  It’s much easier to file and sort the emails that way. 
  • Clickers may be used to track attendance and class participation.

How can Turnitin help detect plagiarism?

The system checks websites (wikipedia, etc), other papers that have been submitted to the Turnitin system, and websites that offer free papers. An originality report is generated for each paper. Over five consecutive “lifted” words is highlighted as plagiarism. The report contains links to where the content was found.

    • Although this is a good tool for identifying potential plagiarism, it still relies on instructor’s interpretation – it Identifies quoted material, bibliography, etc
    • Not well suited for scientific papers (there’s only so many ways to say “hydrogen is the first element in the periodic table”)

How can I use Office 2007 to work with my students more efficiently?

In your course policy statement,  ask students to always write an abbreviated version of the class name (e.g. IC for Intercultural Communication) and the specific subject of the message (e.g. Conflict Extra Credit) in the Header.  It’s much easier to file and sort the e-mails that way.

Microsoft Word - Tracking Changes

     
    • You can easily make and view tracked changes and comments while you work in a document.

Microsoft Outlook

  • Create subfolders in your Inbox to help organize emails you receive for a particular course
  • Create subfolders within your course folder to further organize by course topics

Microsoft Outlook

  • Create a distribution list of your students so you are only emailing to one list as opposed to choosing every student individually
  • You can also do this very easily by sending email through ICON
  

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How can technology connect me to students who are unable to attend office hours? Online chat, Elluminate Live!?

Real-time collaboration uses the Internet to communicate with co-workers as if they were in the same room. Real-time collaboration involves several kinds of synchronous communication tools such as:

  • Instant messaging
  • Group chat
  • Whiteboard collaboration
  • Application sharing
  • Desktop sharing
  • Co-browsing
  • Voice over IP
  • Video and audio conferencing tools
Supported environments are:
  • Internet-based video conferencing - The University of Iowa supports video conferencing solutions that follow the International Telecommunications Union H.323 Internet-based multimedia communications systems standard.
  • Web-based Conferencing - Support is provided for web-based meetings, classrooms, and virtual office hours. Moderator-led interactions are possible from any location using a computer and an Internet connection. Another option is Access Grid, an open source solution.
Examples of other environments:
  • EVO uses the concept of communities which regroup people working on the same project or with the same interest (similar to a news group).
  • Microsoft Research ConferenceXP
  • Vidyo - High definition videoconferencing based on H.264 SVC.

Elluminate Live!, a virtual meetingware product, allows moderator-led internet-based elearning and collaborations.

Will using more technology in the classroom affect my student evaluations?

It depends how you use it.  If you ask students to buy a clicker and only use it to take attendance they may be resentful.  However, if you use it to engage students it is likely to increase their level of satisfaction with the class.