I conducted two interviews, as I was interested to see the differences between the uses of digital technology in elementary and secondary classrooms.<\/p>\n
Key words: accommodation, accountability, communication, collaboration, engagement.<\/p>\n
Abstract for Interview #1 (Teacher T, Secondary, Senior Sciences):<\/strong><\/p>\n Interview #1 (Interview length: 21 minutes 12 seconds): Teacher T is a teacher in a small town in northwestern British Columbia (population between 5500-6000). The interview with Teacher T took place in the afternoon, after students had been dismissed, in Teacher T\u2019s classroom. Teacher T is a secondary science teacher who is teaching Biology 11&12, Chemistry 11&12, and Science 10 this school year. Teacher T has been teaching for twenty-five years and considers herself seven years away from retirement. Teacher T did not review the interview questions ahead of time.<\/p>\n In the interview with Teacher T, three significant themes emerged: The ability to accommodate learners who lead lives that include travel (i.e., extracurricular sports, vacations) or who are ill and are unable to attend class, and at the same time increase accountability in her learners; the importance of decreasing anxiety and providing review for students outside the classroom; and the opportunity digital technology provides for the teacher to move more freely around the classroom in order to assess learning, as well as misconceptions, during class time, rather than waiting for a submitted work assignment or test.<\/p>\n Teacher T began using technology when some of her students, who were on the school wrestling team, were going to be absent in the week leading up to a provincial exam, and would be \u201cmissing some crucial lessons.\u201d In order to provide the students with the lessons, the teacher recorded and uploaded the lessons, sending them via a link to enable the students to prepare for their exam during their absence. From there, Teacher T\u2019s use of technology to provide recorded lessons for students to access away from the classroom has grown to include the Camtasia program, Moodle and YouTube platforms, a class set of iPads (through a $10,000 grant), and lessons delivered in a Flipped Classroom style. With the posting of lessons online, Teacher T is able to accommodate learners during absences. In addition to this, Teacher T points out, \u201cit keeps them accountable because often they’ll say, \u201cWell, I wasn’t here\u201d but the lesson was loaded\u2026So that’s not really an excuse anymore and for those kids, you know, that are doing those extracurriculars\u2026they don’t get quite as stressed because they know the lesson\u2019s there.\u201d Today, Teacher T records most lessons and uploads them to YouTube, then posts the link on her class Moodle site for students to access. The addition of a YouTube link allows students to access lessons using their phones from anywhere with internet service. Students without internet access can download lessons to a stick (using KeepVid) prior to leaving school, so accommodations are made for students without internet access.<\/p>\n As Teacher T teaches primarily senior science classes, many students deal with stress and anxiety around learning concepts, or being absent and getting behind quickly. However, with the lessons posted online, students are able to access the information needed from the day\u2019s class. \u201cKids will come back after being sick and they’ve already watched the lesson, so I don’t have to reteach; I just get to help them with it.\u201d Teacher T has also developed Moodle lessons which provide practice questions online that students can watch and pause, as they work through the questions and answers, step-by-step, outside the classroom \u201c\u2026they\u2019re hearing me, and they\u2019re hearing what I want, they\u2019re hearing what I want to see.\u201d Students receive the review they need, and class expectations are reinforced as well. As Teacher T pointed out, \u201cthe kids enjoy it. They don\u2019t panic as much when they\u2019re missing classes. They rewatch them too. Especially those who are really anxious students.\u201d Teacher T has also integrated a Flipped Classroom approach into some of her more difficult lessons, allowing students more time to prepare for classes dealing with challenging concepts. For example, students might be given three to four days to prepare at home by watching lessons and taking notes before a lesson on a particularly difficult concept, \u201cBecause it’s a difficult concept, so they’ve had time to look at the words and be familiar with them and then have a major discussion.\u201d<\/p>\n Finally, the use of digital technology has allowed Teacher T the opportunity to move around the classroom to check students\u2019 comprehension and misconceptions. Because most lessons are recorded and Teacher T now has some backup lessons, there are days that she can have students listen to a pre-recorded lesson (each student or partnership has access to an iPad and headphones) while she goes around to each student individually to discuss their understanding and answer any questions, providing her with valuable one-on-one time with her students. This has also provided her with the opportunity to work with small groups on practice questions, diagrams on whiteboards, and so on, to check and assess learning and comprehension, \u201cSo they\u2019re still getting that lesson, but they\u2019re getting more group time\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n