Numbers 1.5 and 1.6

So it's pretty obvious I have been avoiding these two assignments for a while now.  I saved them for my very last post because I despise Excel so much.

Numbers 1.5
In this pre-post study a group of pharmacy students took a survey about Ebola, then sat through an information session on Ebola and took the survey again.  In this study the dependent variable is student's knowledge of Ebola, and the independent variable is the group of students.  There are not two different groups of students, however since the students were surveyed at two different times (pre and post) we are able to compare them since they are "related groups".  We are testing to see if the information session had any impact on the student's knowledge about Ebola.

Results:
To determine if the information session on Ebola had an effect on the student's knowledge I performed a t-test to compare the pre and post test scores.  This test calculates a p score.  If the p score is less than 5% (<.05) then the results are statistically significant.

For question 26 the results are statistically significant.

For question 27 the results are not statistically significant.

For question 28 the results are not statistically significant.

For question 29 the results are statistically significant.

For question 30 the results are not statistically significant.

For question 31 the results are statistically significant.

The Ebola information session made a statistically significant different in student's knowledge for 3 questions, but there was not a statistical difference between the pre and post test for the other 3 questions on the survey.

Here is a link to my results.

Numbers 1.6

This set of data compares 4th grade reading scores for both black and Hispanic students from each state.

Independent variable = Race

Dependent variable = NAEP reading scores for 4th grade

Hypothesis

H1    There is a statically significant difference between the NAEP mean scores of Black and Hispanic students on the 4th grade reading assessment.

H0: There is no difference between the mean scores.(null hypothesis)

Results:
I conducted a two-tailed t-test using the online calculator http://studentsttest.com/, which gave me a p score of 0.0023. That means that there is a statistically significant difference between Hispanic and Black students.

So as much as I hate how tedious calculating descriptive statistics and conducting t tests can be, I can honestly say I feel a lot more comfortable doing it. I also know how to find and write functions that are not preset in Excel with more ease than when I began this semester.

Infographic

They say a picture is worth a thousand words, thus infographics are gaining popularity quickly.  An infographic visually represents any combination of data and text someone wishes to convey.  The topics for infographics are endless.  

Here are some examples:

I love the idea of having students create an infographic that summarizes a research article.  It is a great way to alternatively assess if students understand what they read about.  So here is the infographic I created to summarize this article.

This was probably the most challenging assignment of the semester for me mostly because I needed to figure out what tools to use.  I began in pinterest by searching for examples of infographics, which lead to some research on how to create an infographic.  Ironically I found an infographic about how to make an infographic!

After doing a lot of research and creating some charts to use. I decided to use the google drawing application to compose my infographic.  Using this tool made it very easy after that.  I was also excited to figure out how to embed my image in this post!

I believe that infographics fall in the redefinition stage of the SAMR model.  While the technology used to create infographics is not in the redefinition stage infographics themselves are.  Creating infographics allows us to capture a great deal of statistics, facts, and graphics in one quick image.  People today are more likely to read an infographic than an entire research article, thus creating an infographic instead of writing an article is redefining these tasks. 

Final Project

My problem: I have to buy all my own copy paper for my classroom. I would like to cut down on the amount of paper I use by using online survey tools to take formative and summative assessments.  I'm also interested in cutting down the amount of time I spend grading, so if these tools are able to help me with that I would love it!

Online Survey Tools

In the world of online survey tools you have several free options as well as paid options.  Since I am a teacher and funds are limited I was only interested in exploring the free options.

The most popular tool is Survey Monkey.

When you create a survey using this software your survey cannot be longer than 10 questions.  There are 15 different types of questions you could ask, and up to 100 people can respond to the survey.  I found that it was pretty easy to use.  The major drawback to this application is that you cannot export the data collected from the survey.

Another great survey tool I found is called Typeform or CORE Plan.

This website was so easy to use.  You can select a survey template or build your own.  There are a variety of different types of questions you could ask.  I really like the picture choice question.  For second graders this is a great way to assess.  It is also a great way to differentiate while assessing students.  A big difference between Typeform and Survey Monkey is that once you have collected data from your survey you are able to export the data.

However my favorite online survey tool was Google Forms.

Google Forms has a variety of different types of questions.  You can also add images and videos as part to your survey questions.  Additionally you can ask unlimited questions and have unlimited respondents.   The best feature of Google Forms is that is automatically collects the survey results into Google Sheets.  Since I had already set up a Google classroom, which students are familiar with logging in to it is easy to assign a survey for students to take.  While it doesn't exactly grade the form for me it allows me to see quickly what the student's responses were and analysis isn't difficult.  I was excited with how easy this application was to use, and it will solve my problem.

Within the SMAR model

This technology falls into the modification category.  These survey tools allow students to complete assessments and feedback questionnaires online instead of completing these tasks paper and pencil.  They also allow you to streamline how you collect and analyze data.  

Pecha Kucha

Do you all know what Pecha Kucha is?  I had never heard of it before!   It is a very strict format of no more or less than 20 slides which stays on the screen for 20 seconds or less! That's not a lot of time!  Some other key components to a Pecha Kucha is having a lot of high quality graphics and not a lot of text.  I could see how this format would be very beneficial especially for online classes.

I began by making myself a script.  I knew 20 seconds wasn't very long, and I needed to plan what I would say carefully.

Next I created my powerpoint presentation with graphics and text.  

Finally with my script in hand I used Screencast O Matic to capture my presentation.

Here is my presentation!

As far as the SMAR model I would place this in the augmentation category.  PowerPoint, Keynote, and Google Slides are all software programs that have existed for years.  Pecha Kucha is simply a model of creating presentations to increase engagement.  By cutting down on text, increasing graphics, and limiting the time presenters are forced to get to the heart of their content and make it as engaging as possible.

Screencast O Matic

What makes an online video engaging?  According to a study done by Melanie Hibbert at Columbia University there are five components which make an online video appealing to students.  

1. The content of the video should directly relate to the content of the course.

2. The instructor uses a conversational tone and humor while delivering the content.

3. The content of the video is not something the students could have just read as text.

4. A high quality production.

5. The video length is 4 minutes or less.

So with all of these factors in mind I created a video showing first year teachers how to create online report cards using Edline software.  I felt this was important because there are multiple steps to this process, and while there are written directions, many teachers need these directions shown to them multiple times. 

So let me just say that was a lot harder than I thought it was going to be.  When I first tried it, I didn't pay attention to the time because I thought there is no way this will take longer than 4 minutes.  Well my first attempt was 8 minutes long.  So I had to redo it, and I felt like I was rushing to keep it under 4 minutes!  

Screencast O Matic was so easy to use.  It was also super easy to upload it to youtube!  I had no idea that if you have a google account you also have a youtube channel.  I thought it would be super difficult but it really wasn't, and once it was uploaded to my youtube channel it was really simple to embed the video in the blog post...way easier than Jing!

As far as the SMAR model goes, I would place this application in the modification level.  Students could read text and directions, but by creating a screencast you are able to show them first hand what they need to know thus modifying what they had before. They are also able to rewind and watch multiple times if necessary.  T

Prezi

I've heard of Prezi before, and have dabbled a little here and there, but this is the first presentation I have created all on my own!

Here it is!  Habitat Prezi

All in all it was pretty easy, especially if you choose a template that is already made for you.  I typically use PowerPoint to create presentations, so I probably could have done this a lot faster with PowerPoint simply because I'm more familiar with it.  I liked how easy it was to insert youtube videos into Prezi, and I have to admit that Prezi has a certain stylistic component that PowerPoint just doesn't have.  I think it is easier to add more slides and pictures in a PowerPoint presentation, also powerpoint has the option of adding timing to the transitions (to be fair I don't know if Prezi does or doesn't I didn't play with that aspect). Prezi recently added a collaboration piece of technology, which is similar to Google Slides.

In terms of the SAMR model I think Prezi is simply a substitution technology.  It takes to place of other presentation models like Powerpoint or Google Slides and doesn't provide any functional change in what they can offer.

Maps

This was a really fun assignment!  The 5th graders in our school take a field trip to Washington D.C every year.  There are so many great places for kids to visit in Washington D.C, so it was fun to plan and imagine.

It was easy to do.  You start here with google maps.  

It's easy to search for places and add them to your map.  The feature that I really liked was that there was often a website linked in the site information box that you are able to click on.  If I shared this map with students they would be able to access information about the site they are visiting very easily.

I also created an interactive itinerary document.  Students can work on this throughout the field trip or begin to explore the sites and access information before they leave on the field trip.  I used google docs to create this document.  Again, it was pretty easy as many of the features are very similar to Word documents.  I was able to insert pictures of the places they are visiting as well as links to all the places they are visiting.  If you use google classroom you could just share this document with students for them to begin working on it.

Here's a link to my itinerary document.

It would be interesting to have students create their own map of the places they visit in the order they visit each site and share it with the teacher.  It would also be a convenient way to keep track of everybody ;-).

As far as the SAMR model.  Creating a document in google is so similar to creating a Word document it would just be considered a substitution.  You might be able to consider it augmentation because sharing the document with students and giving them an assignment is easier.

Creating maps and sharing them students before a field trip would be considered redefinition.  Paper maps were not able interactive or provide facts and information.  Google maps provides links to websites so that you can access information on the site before you visit.