This semester, in groups of five, we presented about different tech tools we could use in the classroom. The tools were Padlet, Audacity, Socrative, VoiceThread and Prezi, the last of which my group presented on. The theme of these presentations was "Tech Tools in Use." That is to say, we weren't just talking about what the tools can be used for. We also talked about how they're actually used, by real teachers and students. We also got a chance to use the tools, to see how they actually work when a large number of students uses the tool all at once.
To be honest, many of the tools seemed interesting, but left me feeling like "cool story, Bro." Sure, VoiceThread is awesome, but will I actually use it? Would I use it often enough that it would be worth the time it takes for my students to figure it out? If I'm going to use it once a unit, then yes, it's worth it to spend the better part of one class period teaching students how to use it and letting them figure out different features. But if I don't plan to have them use it that often, would it really be worth it? Besides, the idea of teaching them how to use a complicated technological tool in Spanish sounds like a frustrating experience. This is not to say that I would never use it, but I don't see it becoming part of my repertoire during my early years of teaching.
On the other hand, I could definitely see myself using Padlet. Earlier in the semester, the class had worked on a Google PowerPoint (pardon me, Google Presentation), and there was mass chaos when everyone tried to update at once. Faster computers wrote over slower computers, and the slowest computers were completely lost in the mix. Furthermore, every time someone added more text higher up in a document, the whole thing would shift down, and everyone looking at a part lower down on the document would lose their place. In contrast, Padlet wasn't overwhelmed by everyone working on a personal padlet at once. Each Padlet was it's own deal, and we just added links to our own personal Padlets on the main Padlet. In addition, there are different ways you can make things pop up when people work on a shared Padlet, including a way that the newest update is always in the same spot and everything else shifts down. That way you don't run into the problem (that we ran into in the Google Presentation) of many people trying to write on the same space, and overwriting each other.
One neat thing about Padlet is that you can put different kinds of items on it. You can post simple text boxes, embed videos, link to websites, etc. It's basically like a website that's incredibly easy to make. This is great because, if you have the technology, you can have your kids make a Padlet for a project, and the students with less technological knowledge won't be disadvantaged. Yet it's not so simplified that they are totally limited in what they can post. Plus, it doesn't have the same dizzying effects that Prezi does (if you are in my cohort, you heard me complain like the old curmudgeon I am about that a couple weeks ago.)
The presenters also showed a number of Padlets used by real live teachers. By looking at openly shared Padlets, you can get access to a whole lot of material for your own classroom, so you don't have to reinvent the wheel every time you want to teach the imperfect tense. On the other hand, because you're not the one controlling the Padlet, if the teacher decides to delete her Padlet or change things around, you're kind of stuck. I would probably look at public Padlets to get ideas, but I wouldn't want to rely on one, just in case the creator of the Padlet happens to delete it the very morning I need it.
What do you all think? Would Padlet work in your classroom or lesson planning? Was there another tool we looked at this semester that fits better with your teaching?
To be honest, many of the tools seemed interesting, but left me feeling like "cool story, Bro." Sure, VoiceThread is awesome, but will I actually use it? Would I use it often enough that it would be worth the time it takes for my students to figure it out? If I'm going to use it once a unit, then yes, it's worth it to spend the better part of one class period teaching students how to use it and letting them figure out different features. But if I don't plan to have them use it that often, would it really be worth it? Besides, the idea of teaching them how to use a complicated technological tool in Spanish sounds like a frustrating experience. This is not to say that I would never use it, but I don't see it becoming part of my repertoire during my early years of teaching.
On the other hand, I could definitely see myself using Padlet. Earlier in the semester, the class had worked on a Google PowerPoint (pardon me, Google Presentation), and there was mass chaos when everyone tried to update at once. Faster computers wrote over slower computers, and the slowest computers were completely lost in the mix. Furthermore, every time someone added more text higher up in a document, the whole thing would shift down, and everyone looking at a part lower down on the document would lose their place. In contrast, Padlet wasn't overwhelmed by everyone working on a personal padlet at once. Each Padlet was it's own deal, and we just added links to our own personal Padlets on the main Padlet. In addition, there are different ways you can make things pop up when people work on a shared Padlet, including a way that the newest update is always in the same spot and everything else shifts down. That way you don't run into the problem (that we ran into in the Google Presentation) of many people trying to write on the same space, and overwriting each other.
One neat thing about Padlet is that you can put different kinds of items on it. You can post simple text boxes, embed videos, link to websites, etc. It's basically like a website that's incredibly easy to make. This is great because, if you have the technology, you can have your kids make a Padlet for a project, and the students with less technological knowledge won't be disadvantaged. Yet it's not so simplified that they are totally limited in what they can post. Plus, it doesn't have the same dizzying effects that Prezi does (if you are in my cohort, you heard me complain like the old curmudgeon I am about that a couple weeks ago.)
The presenters also showed a number of Padlets used by real live teachers. By looking at openly shared Padlets, you can get access to a whole lot of material for your own classroom, so you don't have to reinvent the wheel every time you want to teach the imperfect tense. On the other hand, because you're not the one controlling the Padlet, if the teacher decides to delete her Padlet or change things around, you're kind of stuck. I would probably look at public Padlets to get ideas, but I wouldn't want to rely on one, just in case the creator of the Padlet happens to delete it the very morning I need it.
What do you all think? Would Padlet work in your classroom or lesson planning? Was there another tool we looked at this semester that fits better with your teaching?
Hi Naomi,
ReplyDeleteCool Post, Bro! (Just kidding!) Really, though, thanks for making explicit the important difference between using the Google tool and Padlet. That's a good point. In fact I think the relative “coolness” of any tool has to pretty much always take a back seat to implementability and functionality when we think about classroom use. Mass chaos sound not fun. That was my big takeaway from your post.
RE the fear that someone's padlet you like could disappear, couldn't you copy it somehow? Take a screenshot? Grab what you like for later? I don't remember the tool well enough.
So are you saying you think you could search padlet specifically for resources to teach a certain skill or concept? For lesson Planning. That's an interesting idea. How would it work? (Would it work?)
John
That's a good point about making a screenshot. The issue is that some of the public teacher padlets have lots of links to different websites and videos, so if the public padlet goes away, so does your access to all the links. But there might be a way to effectively copy the whole padlet, so I will look into that before I completely write off relying on public padlets.
DeleteAs a language teacher, I am all about the online content because I think it's a great way to access authentic Spanish- and German-language material. So a padlet full of links is right up my ally. Would you use it differently for an English classroom?
Hi Naomi
ReplyDeleteI like the way you described Padlet "It's basically like a website that's incredibly easy to make ".Indeed it is. With advancement in user-centric designs, tools like Padlet are so easy to use and customize that they are no less than a neat wholesome website when put together. Although my intention was only to use this tool for collecting feedbacks and exit tickets from students in an anonymous manner, I agree with you in that students can use it for project purposes and all students will find it easier unlike Prezi or Powerpoint. I am trying not to get too overwhelmed by all the tools we have learnt so far and stick to what I liked best for my student teaching. Padlet is one of them. I hope to learn more creative ways of using it in future. Please let me know if you use it in an interesting way, so I can also try. Thanks for posting.
I really liked this post Naomi, as in many ways I feel the same way,while in others I am completely on the other side of the fence. To start off with; your "cool story bro" reaction? Yup. 100 percent this. Pretty much every single application that we dealt with felt like (barring making it a recurring 'event' in my classroom, the time it took to learn the toll and implement it was nowhere near the payoff it provided. On that note, I am on the other side of the aisle (fences, aisles, maybe my next metaphor can involve a guard-rail of some kind) when it comes to padlet. Where you saw simplicity, I saw many boxes. Boxes everywhere. Organized chaos to a degree which I am not comfortable with. This may be something of a disciplinary thing, as I think language learning lends itself more to tools which act as giant pieces of scratch paper, whereas history is much more of a narrative-creation excercise, but all I saw when I looked at padlet was an unnecessary abstraction of posting stuff to a pinboard. Sorry! (BTW, I feel a niggling suspicion that I am failing to think about this tool in the way you are, which could be clouding my interpretation) feel free to vehemently rebut this! :-). P.S. BTW, my dislike for padlet has nothing to do with your presentation that was solid, back-pats all around.
ReplyDeleteI suspect one reason we have such different feelings about padlet is our relative tech savvy-ness. It's possible that I like the boxy-ness because I don't have as much experience with other layouts. And yes, I think you're right that organized-chaos is a big part of language learning - if it were 100% organized, it would just be a series of grammar exercises. The content, and the students' interests and personalities, make it messy, and that's what makes it fun for me. I wonder if there isn't a certain amount of organized chaos in history and social studies classes, though - isn't narrative-creating all about finding order in chaos?
DeleteHi Jayant,
ReplyDeleteI agree that many tools have hugely different value for different disciplines. I'm thinking about that video we saw of the boy shooting a basketball, and how important it was to be able to edit that video just so, while in a language classroom, it might become a distraction that students (or teachers) could get sucked into when they should be focusing more on the content of the video.
You raise a good point about this all being dependent on the school district. In terms of training for Tech in the Classroom, I'm going by "hope for the best, expect the worst". I want to know how to use different tools because many schools (including my current placement) have a lot of access to technology, and I want to take advantage of that as much as possible. However, I don't want to be dependent on it, and I think that learning how to improvise has been at least as helpful as learning to use different tech tools. A little bit of column A, a little bit of column B.