ISTE 2015 is on the horizon, and the TechSmith Education team is gearing up for the biggest K12 conference of the year. From June 28-July 1, we’ll be in Philadelphia talking with educators, showing the latest digital tools, and hearing how schools across the country are transforming learning with technology.
As we look forward to ISTE 2015, we’re excited to give you an up close look at the educators who will be presenting in our booth, Matt Miller and Dennis Haynie (jump). See how they use technology with their students, recent projects, and how they’ve overcome challenges in their districts. We hope you enjoy the series, and look forward to seeing you at ISTE!
Interview with Matt Miller
Matt Miller is a high school Spanish teacher in West Central Indiana and has been teaching for over ten years. He’s presented to hundreds of teachers at a number of workshops on a variety of topics including educational technology and world language instruction. In 2014, he was recognized as one of five outstanding educators in Wabash Valley and was awarded the Golden Apple Award by WTHI-TV. In the same year, he was also nominated for a Bammy Award for Secondary School Teacher of the Year.
Matt is the author of “Ditch That Textbook”, which, like the name of his book suggests, steers teachers away from the old textbook method of teaching and towards more innovative, creative ideas for the classroom. He will also be on an author’s panel at our ISTE booth where he will be giving away copies of his book – so make sure to stop by!
What are the benefits of collaborative technology for both students and teachers?
Collaborative technology really breaks down the walls of the classroom and the school. It gives absent students access to what’s going on in class from home. It lets group work continue when students are in different classrooms or in their own homes. Plus, it gives students access to people all over the world, including experts in the field they’re studying. I think instant collaboration through technology is one of the most powerful features of learning today.
How has collaborative technology enhanced your teaching, especially in a foreign language class?
For my students, collaborating online is just as common as turning in papers to teachers in other classes. Students all gather information or write in Spanish in a shared Google Slides presentation where each student has his/her own slide. They can then check out other students’ work and add comments to them. My students also write and create in blogs, where they can comment on each other’s work as well. We’ve taken digital collaboration global as well, sharing Google documents with Spanish-speaking peers in Valencia, Spain. Both sets of students asked and answered various questions about life in their respective cultures.
What prompted you to start teaching a textbook-less curriculum?
It was what I call a “calculated moment of frustration.” I used to be a very traditional world languages teacher, using the textbook as my curriculum and assigning lots of activities from it. I found after a few years that my students couldn’t hardly speak Spanish, and I knew it was time for a change. I felt that my textbooks were a barrier to what I wanted to do in the classroom, so I started creating resources for my students, offering better in-class activities and engaging them in tools and sites online. Now, my students can come up to me and have a conversation in Spanish much easier than before. Plus, they like Spanish class a lot more this way!
What challenges have you encountered while ditching your textbooks, and how did you overcome them?
My technology was a hurdle for a while. I was trying to do quick web-based activities on nine-year-old desktop computers. Five-minute activities were taking half of class, so I had to adjust. It has also been easy for me to take my focus off what’s best for my students and their learning when I see new tools that could be fun and engaging. At times, it’s best to do low-tech, ‘no-Chromebooks’ activities to achieve certain results (even though it can make me suffer!).
You can reach Matt at ISTE or email him at matt[at]ditchthattextbook[dot]com. Feel free to also reach out to him on Facebook, Pinterest, or Google+ or Follow @jmattmiller.
Interview with Dennis Haynie
Dennis Haynie is the Director of Technology for Andrews ISD in the great state of Texas. He uses his past experience as a teacher to help instructors find new ways to use technology with their students.
As part of a multi-year initiative, Dennis recently helped his district roll out 1:1 tablets to more than 4,000 students, as well as implementing a new LMS and TechSmith Relay. We are excited to have Dennis present in our booth at ISTE 2015 about how he uses video and new technology in his district.
How do you approach flipped learning in your district?
Being a 1:1 district makes the flipped-classroom a viable option for improving teaching and learning. Teachers who opt to use a flipped-classroom model use TechSmith Relay for many reasons. Analytics allow the teacher to hold students accountable for viewing the lesson for homework. I think this is the most important key to success. In addition, TechSmith Relay allows teachers to quiz students throughout the video. Not only does this allow the teacher to check for understanding, but it adds another layer to the accountability of the lesson. One of the downfalls of the flipped-classroom has been the accountability of the students to watch the lesson. In the past, teachers would quiz the students over the lesson content when they returned to class. The problem with a quiz is that it isn’t possible to differentiate between a student that didn’t watch the lesson and a student who genuinely didn’t understand the content. Analytics and quizzing within TechSmith Relay solve this issue.
What prompted you to look at using video for PD?
Video is a great tool for PD because it allows our small staff development team to deliver content to many teachers in a short amount of time. In addition, it allows teachers to participate in staff development when it is convenient to them. Similar to a flipped classroom, it also allows our staff development team to know exactly who received the information. Using video as one of our many ways to deliver staff development allows us to meet the needs and different learning styles of teachers.
What types of PD are covered in your program?
Our professional development library within TechSmith Relay includes instruction on using many of our technology programs like iStation, Think Through Math, Insight 360, Kahoot!, Padlet, among many more. We also include lessons on using the technology hardware that is available to teachers like Smart Boards, MacBook Pros, iPads, etc. We have also begun recording teachers in the classroom who are using different teaching strategies. There is really no limit to the types of PD that can be offered through video.
How does video work with your current systems?
The way that TechSmith Relay integrates with our LMS (Schoology) makes integration much easier for teachers. Teachers are able to assign lessons that were created in TechSmith Relay directly from Schoology. Also, the quizzes that are embedded within the videos from TechSmith Relay automatically transfer the grade directly to the gradebook in Schoology. Often teachers feel overwhelmed by the number of programs that they are having to learn. The LTI integration between TechSmith Relay and Schoology makes it seem more like one program.
Want to reach Dennis before ISTE? You can reach him at dhaynie(at)andrews(dot)esc18(dot)net.
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