Technology is not longer optional in our classrooms. As educators we must make decisions not only about “if” we should use technology, but to go deeper and determine how and why it will enhance learning in an intentional way. This strategic intention is key to educators providing greater access to mathematics for students and increase their understanding, proficiency, and interest (NCTM, 2015). This learning environment is not simply one that has technology present in the room, or one where the technology has conveniently taken the place of a piece of paper. Too often I see classrooms that have carts of iPads and Chromebooks where students are completing electronic versions of those same question and answer worksheets that used to be photocopied and handed out. Now we simply assign these in our Google Classrooms and pat ourselves on the back calling it 21st century learning. Alice Keeler says “use paper for paper tasks and digital tools for digital tasks”. Let’s face it…we have begun using some pretty expensive pieces of “paper”. However if we were to make some intentional changes to the use of technology to enhance process over product it would be small steps in the right direction. One of the key difficulties in conceptual challenges is students engaging in the process of metacognition, making their thinking visible, and identifying possible misconceptions. Math classes have been plagued by the mantra of “show your work” much to the dismay of the students. Using technology we can allow students to provide more than the answer while at the same time capturing their understandings both correct and incorrect to drive further instruction.
There are some simple to use technology options that can support capturing process in order to make thinking visible as well as enhance information, ideas, and interactions (NCTM, 2015). This same technology can also help to transform the teacher from a distributor of information to creating critical thinkers reflecting on the process over product (Keeler, Herrington, & Boaler, 2017).
Screencasting: There are many free and easy to use tools that allow students to quickly and easily record their understanding of a concept. My favorite by far is Screencastify. Students record an explanation to how they would or have solve a problem talking about their strategy and reasoning. They have also creating our own little math ESports by recording themselves getting their highest score possible on an online math game and explaining how they did it
The Camera and Google Slides: our Chromebooks have a great camera built right in. Students have a chance to capture the before, during and after of solving a problem with or without manipulatives and then organizing that process beside the question on a Google Slide. Another version of this is collaborative Google Slides where each student claims a slide to share their strategy and process and they can look at each others
Revision History and Google Drawings: by creating math questions using digital manipulatives in Google Slides or Drawings teachers can use the power of revision history to see minute by minute how the student solved the problem, how long it took them, what steps they did etc. A digital record of thinking
These are just a few ways that we can use simple and free technology in any classroom. A tip of the iceberg really. Using technology to teach math is not about going paperless. It is about supporting an environment that allows students to collaborate and connect to authentic learning contexts in a way that will increase their critical thinking and make them self aware of what they have learned and why (Keeler, Herrington, & Boaler, 2017).
“If technology is going to impact student learning the task has to change” ((Keeler, Herrington, & Boaler, 2017, p.87).
Trish
If you are interested here is a link to my Professional Development Workshop materials I use to help teachers use Google Apps to teach math, make thinking visible, and focus on process over product. There are many templates and ideas to try included in the slides inspired by Alice Keeler.
References
Keeler, A., Herrington, D., & Boaler, J. (2017). Teaching Ma² (h) with Google apps: 50 g suite activities. San Diego, CA: Dave Burgess Consulting.
Strategic Use of Technology in Teaching and Learning Mathematics. (2015, July). Retrieved January 11, 2018, from http://www.nctm.org/Standards-and-Positions/Position-Statements/Strategic-Use-of-Technology-in-Teaching-and-Learning-Mathematics/
Great ideas! I can’t wait to check out screencastify and explore more with Google Drawings. I didn’t even think of using the “history” aspect of the program to view students’ thinking. I wish I could come to your classroom and watch you in action! Thank you for sharing your Professional Development Workshop materials. I will be spending some of my weekend exploring and experimenting. Do you ever have issues with not having access to enough technology? My class shares a cart of Think Pad laptops with 10 our classes. Have you ever used these types of laptops with your students?
Issues of access are always a problem. Thankfully in my own district this is actually quite rare now. We still do have a couple of schools that have one cart of computers (either laptops or Chromebooks) for over 500 students to share. The problem isn’t the lack of technology but rather the lack of decision making to invest in the technology. Our budgets are equitable amongst our schools, yet principals can make the choice to buy or not to buy. The reasons at this point are not financial ones and so we need to work to help administrators understand the value of technology.
In the last two years we finally brought Google for Education to our district and with it we have grown in over 8000 Chromebooks during this same course of time. Expensive laptops and iPads are no longer the popular choice and we are experiencing much less technical difficulties with the switch. We have had Thinkpads in some of our schools, but as they are aging schools are deciding to replace with Chromebooks.