Adventures in MET Land

ETEC 533 Interview Reflections.

The interview process has been an interesting task. Not only have I obtained a deeper understanding of my colleague I also have a deeper understanding of my own ideology about my topic of interest. From my very first MET course (a year ago) I have been interested in how Tablet PC’s in the hands of teachers and/or students is beneficial to student comprehension of course material. Upon interviewing my colleague I came to a new understanding of how the tablet can be beneficial to student learning.

The issue I am interested in is to discover how and if the tablet was beneficial to student learning. However, upon the interview I have come to a deeper understanding of my topic of interest. My interviewee was curious as to if his use of technology was worth his time learning how to use technology for student comprehension of course material. For the past year and a bit my methodology of going through class notes has evolved with the use of the tablet. My delivery of math based examples has changed to a scaffolding approach rather than here you are, now write everything down as I do it. Based on my colleagues question I wonder if my use of technology within my class is helping student learn course content. Is my use of the tablet within my learning environments beneficial to students learning my course content? My topic of interest was further deepened when I asked if he thought it would be a good idea to allow students to use tablets within class.

My interviewee indicated that he loved the tablet for its ability to help him stay organized and to write on in class. No longer did he require binders to keep track of all of his materials such as notes, answer keys, and overheads. However, he does not believe that a tablet in front of a high school student during class would be beneficial to their learning of course concepts. His comments made me start to think about my own tablet use. The tablet has been a great tool in my learning process through the MET program. I love being able to keep all of my journal articles within one location as well as annotate module instructions. If the tablet is such an excellent tool in his and my lives than why would it not be in the hands of a high school student? Currently I teach three 1:1 laptop to student classes (computer immersion, CI) where students sometimes have to write material on paper due to laptop interface limitations (math calculations and drawing). Based on my interview I am now interested in exploring if my current methodology of teaching with a tablet is beneficial to student learning as well as exploring if student use of tablets may also be beneficial to their learning.

Comparing my interviewee’s responses to others interviewee analyses has been interesting. What was unique about my interviewee’s opinions over others was his curiosity to determine if his time learning to use technology was worth it. He wants to explore how or in fact if his use of technology is beneficial to students learning of his course concepts. On another note, there was commonality amongst his description of how he learnt to use technology when compared to other interviewee’s responses. Many of the interviewee’s learnt how to use technology within their classrooms on their own accord. Interviewee’s indicated that they use technology within the classroom as they find it engages students within the learning process; thus, is beneficial to their learning. However, if technology is beneficial to student learning than where are the learning opportunities for teachers to learn how to properly engage students with technology?  Teachers need to be given more opportunities to learn what technologies and how these technologies are beneficial in helping students learn course content. If teachers were given these learning opportunities they would not have to spend hours learning how to use technology to only find out that it does not help their students come to a better understanding of course content.

Based on my experiences, my interviewee’s experiences, and other interviewee’s experiences I am interested in finding out if teachers use of tablets to scaffold students learning with web based notes as well as student use of tablets is beneficial to student learning of course concepts. By analyzing my method of using a tablet in class I will be able to help colleagues using tablets find beneficial techniques to help their students learn course concepts; thus, saving them valuable time. Moreover, analyzing student’s use of tablets, on their ability to learn material, will help me make an informed decision as to whether our CI program should recommend students entering the program to buy a tablet over a laptop.