How smart applications make an educator’s job easier
1. Introduction
Since it was discovered that computer technologies have the potential to transform Skinner’s teaching machines, which was recognized in the 1960s, the role of technology in education has been an important question. This role is still important today, with numerous debates in the news about the impact of technology on society, the implications of easy and quick access to information for knowledge, and the impact of technology on the emotional, social, and physical development of young people.Thus, it is important to expand the existing knowledge about the influence of digital technology on education in relation to past discoveries.
1.1. Computer technology implementation in schools and its impact on learning
In schools, the major approach employed for assessing the influence of technology on teaching and learning has been attainment outcomes in relation to the number of available curricula across different fields, and this has been found to be correlated with the quality or quantity of technology that is available for education as such influences overall experience in institutions (for instance, Watson, 1993; Wenglinsky, 1998; Weaver, 2000; BECTA 2003). In the USA, for instance, it was discovered that there is a relationship between the adoption of computers and related technologies in the curriculum and the enhanced performance of students following a longitudinal study (Weaver, 2000). This is because computer use does positively influence the chances of students attaining higher grades. Another related study was conducted in the UK, and it was discovered that there is a statistically significant positive relationship between high levels of ICT use and the students’ attainment of higher academic performance (Harrison et al. 2004). In a teacher agency study, it was also reported that there is an association between the adoption of ICT and higher student performance (Moseley et al. 1999, p. 82), although the interpretation presented by the researchers is that the more effective teachers and schools tend to employ the right innovative approach or choose to use the best ICT resources appropriately, rather than the technology itself, which brought about the enhanced performance.
Although some of the findings on the relationship between the academic performance of students and the adoption of technology do seem fairly consistent, there are other students that have found a strong relationship between the two variables. For instance, a study on the ICT Test Bed evaluation did identify that there is a high level of association between ICT use and enhanced student performance, with the test showing that improvement was much higher in ICT Test Bed Local Authorities (Las) than in their counterparts that had no ICT Test Bed (Somekh et al. 2007). The indication from the study is that schools with higher than average ICT implementation also had higher than average performance from their students. Thus, this could provide a reverse causal link with the high-performing schools deemed as those that are more likely to invest in ICT or better equipped with the right technologies that can ensure enhanced performance of the students. In accordance with Fuchs and Woessmann’s (2004) analysis, the initial positive pattern between student performance and ICT adoption in the schools does indicate that besides the ICT, the schools also have other positive characteristics because just having computer technology is not enough.
An analysis of the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) data was conducted by the Organization for Economic Co-Operation and Development (OECD), with a more detailed but complex picture of the relationship between the performance of students, their access to computing technologies both at school and home, and the extent to which computer technologies are used to teach them across different countries (OECD, 2006). In this study, it was discovered that students who use computers more are more likely to experience lower academic performance than their counterparts who use computers less, which goes to suggest that the relationship might not be as linear as thought. Thus, the indication here is that there might be a limit to the amount of technology that is beneficial for students.
Findings from quasi-experimental and experimental studies that focused on understanding the gain in knowledge for students that employ ICT in education or that are taught with ICT compared to their counterparts that are not educated through the same process do tend to suggest that there are positive benefits for contexts that have ICT in them. A review has been conducted on this in relation to a native approach, with conclusions being consistently positive (e.g. Parr and Fung, 2000; Andrews et al., 2002; Cox et al., 2004; Hartley, 2007). The same findings have also been made in the context of quantitative synthesis based on meta-analysis. Although a large percentage of the researched educational interventions do show a positive impact on the performance of students, the relative impacts are not normally considered (for instance, Hattie et al., 1996; Sipe and Curlette, 1997; Marzano, 1998; Hattie, 2008).
1.2. The Advantages of SMART Applications for Teachers
In the context of the impact of SMART applications in teaching, studies have also found that it makes the teaching process easier for the teacher and fun for the students (Woodill, 2013). In any case, the success of implementing these SMART applications for enhanced teaching does depend on a number of factors, of which an educator’s perception of the value of integrating these applications is one of them (Handal et al., 2013; Marinakou and Giousmpasoglou, 2014). A number of students have shown that SMART applications, when successfully implemented in teaching, do make the teaching process more efficient and effective (Churchill et al., 2012; Handal et al., 2013; Mills et al., 2014; Pegrum et al., 2013; Sad and Goktas, 2013; Thomas and O’Bannon, 2013). This is based on the understanding that they actually combine computing and communication features into a single unit (Khaddage, 2013), and this makes SMART applications highly customizable, personalized communication platforms, easy to produce, organize, and share information, and easier for content management (Khaddage and Lattemann, 2012).
1.3. Research objectives
In line with the discussions above, this research is aimed at demonstrating how SMART technologies positively influence the teaching process by making it more effective and efficient. In order to demonstrate such, the focus of this study will be on Plickers, an online teaching tool. In order to attain this objective, discussions will be presented on what Plickers are all about, how they can be used for teaching, and an analysis of their overall impact on the teaching process.
2. What is Plickers?
Plickers is a powerful, simple tool that allows the instructor to gather formative assessment data in real-time without the need to access students’ devices (Plickers.com, n.d.). It is used by teachers for quick checks in order to understand whether the students are actually assimilating big concepts and mastering the instructed skills. Additionally, it engages all students in critical thinking as it provides all the students with the chance to participate and engage in the learning process without feeling self-conscious. Finally, it focuses more on teaching instead of on setup as it is seamlessly integrated into the teacher’s teaching method.
3. Use of Plickers
In order to use Plickers, the user will need either a computer or a mobile device (smartphone, iPad, or tablet). The first step is to visit the website at http://www.plickers.com. The user must make use of Google Chrome to see complete features, as not all the site's features appear when using Internet Explorer. Once on the website, click the "Signup" button and create an account.
For mobile device users, the next step is to download the Plickers onto the mobile device (smartphones, iPads, or tablets). It is available for all smartphones and tablets, and it is free. Once the app is downloaded, the next step is to login with the already created account.
Basically, the first part of the process is executed on the computer, and once the user is logged in, there are different tasks that can be executed with Flickers, and they are contained in the upper left part of the screen. Under these areas, the user can set up classes, write questions, make the questions accessible for the students, and track their progress.
To start with, the student should click the "Classes" tab. In each account, there is a default demo class, and it can be used in cases where the user is not concerned about tracking the performance of the students and their individual responses and just wants to pull the group together as a whole. If the user wants to track the students’ progress, then a class should be created and this can be done by clicking on the "Add new class" button.
One that is clicked would open a "Basic class info" box. The user will then need to key in the required information and press "Save." The "Classes" tab is where the newly created class will appear. Thus, to view the new classes, the user should click on that tab.
While still on the "Classes" tab, the user can click on any of the created classes in order to add students. In order to add a student, what is required is for the user to type the student's name in the entry box and click on "Enter," and this will create the student as well as assign the student a card number.
The students can actually be created ahead of time and given their assigned cards, or the cards can be distributed and called their names/recorded with the card number during each class period.
In order to create questions, the user should click on the "Library" tab as featured at the upper left of the screen. Once done, this will open the library section where the teacher can add the questions. There is an entry box at the top of the screen. In order to type the question, the teacher will need to click on the box, select the kind of question (multiple choice/TF question), type the answers, and ensure that the correct answer is checked. Next is to click "Save," and the question together with its answer will be saved. Once the question is completed, it will appear in a running list of questions contained in the library tab. In order to assign a particular question to a given class, the teacher will need to click the "Add to plan" button and select the particular class from the drop-down menu.
A small colored circle will appear in the name of the class where the question has been assigned. In the event that the teacher wishes to remove the question from that particular class, the circle should be clicked to remove the class.
The "Cards" button is used for printing out the response cards for the students, and it is located at the upper right corner of the website. In order to use this button, the teacher should choose the set of cards to print out ("Standard" set is the one the majority of the class would want), click on the link, and print. Additionally, the same set of cards can be used for all classes in the event that the teacher wishes to avoid printing multiple copies by re-collecting and storing the cards.
The live view is used when the teacher wants to use the Plickers with the students. This involves clicking the "Live View" button on the computer. Next is to click on the name of the class that the teacher wants to use. Then, the title of the question that the teacher wants to ask should be clicked on, and the italicized questions are the ones that have been asked in the previous classes. Once the question has been selected, the computer will automatically show the highlighted question on the app. This can be projected through the SmartBoard for the students to see and address. In the event that the computer doesn’t show the question automatically, the browser should be refreshed.
Basically, using Plickers is not difficult and it comes with numerous benefits for teachers in terms of making the teaching process easier. This is demonstrated in the below discussions.
4. Demonstration of how Flickers simplifies teaching
Learning Objective 4.1
The object of this class is to assess the students' spelling abilities in relation to how they can complete a spell with listed alphabet options.
4.2. Students to be targeted
The students for this class are 1st grade students.
4.3. The Teaching Procedure
For this demonstration, the teacher signed up and logged into the Plickers board. Then, the teacher clicked on "classes" in order to create new classes. For this study, the new class is named "Basic Spelling," which represents the main objectives and learning outcome.
Following the successful creation of the class, five students were added to the class and assigned a card. For demonstration, the students were named one-five. To add the students, their names were entered into the open dialogue box and clicked "Enter," with the computer adding the names automatically.
Once the students were added, the next step was to add questions. The user can add as many questions as desired, but in this case, only one spelling question was added. As seen above, the students were asked to complete the spelling of "computer", and the correct answer in this case is option "C". For creating questions, two options are available: "multiple choice" and "true or false" statements. In this case, multiple choice was chosen because it is the appropriate response pattern for learning spelling.
Figure 4: Adding questions to a class
Next, the created question was added to the "Basic Spelling" class. In order to do this, click on the "Add to queue" button and select the particular class to which you want to add the question. Once added, the class will appear under the question, as can be seen from the case above. If the teacher wants to remove the question from the class, all that is required is to click on the little "Cancel" before the class name and the question will be removed automatically.
The next step is to print the students’ cards that will be used for the classes. One beautiful aspect of cards is that they can be used for multiple classes. In order to print the card, click on "Cards" and choose the "standard" option as it is the most preferred card option. The cards for this case are shown in the appendix (1) below.
Figure 6: Live viewing of the questions
With the cards successfully printed, the instructor can now live view the questions as shown above together with the students who will provide answers to the questions. In order to do this, the instructor will first download the software to a smartphone or tablet, then click on the particular question to live view, and the question will be automatically updated on the computer. Thus, wherever the instructor might be, access to the internet automatically grants access to the classroom.
This is the main purpose of the whole design. In order to assess the students, the instructor will now ask them to hold up their cards together with the answers they consider to be correct placed on top of the cards, and they will need to hold them up facing the instructor. Then, click on the camera icon on the app. The instructor will then be able to see the entire classroom from the screen of the mobile device and will need to slowly scan through in order to record each student’s answer in relation to their student code. Once the device reads a code, a small white bar will appear across the screen, and this is an indication that an answer has been caught.
From the computer screen, the instructor will be able to see the number of students that have answered the questions, as well as a graph of students that got the questions right. Finally, if the instructor wants to go back and review the whole response in relation to the number of questions answered, the number of students that answered, and the overall performance of the students, the instructor will then click on the library tab and click on graph in the library tap for such information.
5. Reasons for Using Plickers
From the above demonstration, it can be seen that using Plickers is easy. However, the ease of use is not the main focus; instead, the focus is on how it makes the whole teaching process easy for the teachers. First, plikers allow the teacher to plan ahead of time. With Flickers, the teacher doesn’t need to wait till the beginning of the school year to set assessments or do so while the teaching is going on. This can be done and saved online for later use. Additionally, assessments that were used for a given student can also be used for their successors. On a similar note, the teacher doesn’t need to grade the students manually as the system will automatically dictate their response, reference it to their student cards, and accord marks as necessary. Thus, the whole teaching process becomes easier as it reduces the stress associated with designing, implementing, and analyzing assessments from time to time. In terms of evaluation, the teacher can also compare the performance of students against each other, or the performance of a given group of students in a given semester against another group, using the information to enact necessary teaching decisions.
6. Conclusion
Basically, the focus of this research has been on understanding the influence of technologies (with reference to SMART applications) on the teaching process as it relates to making teaching easier. From the discoveries, it has been proven with Plickers that it makes teaching easier because the teacher can organize, implement, and assess the class more effectively and efficiently. It eliminated the conventional activities of grading and marking with automation, leading to fewer human errors (such as assigning a student’s grade to another student), and eventually enhancing the teaching process. Thus, it is recommended that teachers should implement SMART applications in their teaching process as it does make teaching easier.
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