Peer-to-Peer Collaboration
Poll Everywhere is a free online polling tool http://www.polleverywhere.com. Students use their cell phones to text responses, and the results are displayed in real-time. The tool has both multiple-choice and text-answer options (Buerkett, 2011). According to Buerkett (2011) what makes this survey assessment tool quite appealing to students is because they enjoy being able to legally use their phones in school, and they love to watch the response of graphs change as the results come in. In return…valuable summative assessment data is received. This type of assessment was selected because we kept in mind that our 21st century students are social learners; using cell phones as learning devices and social media sites such as Facebook to share and connect with students only makes sense for today’s learner; new technologies for a new type of learner.
Social Networks such as Facebook, and information-sharing sites, have transformed the way people interact online and share information. Increasingly, firms are using these networks to find employees or clients. Recent studies highlight the importance of the virtual environment in the development of business strategies, including those of Subject Matter Experts (SMEs). For instance Ball (2010) – using a survey sent by Facebook, Twitter and email – found that SME owners indicated Facebook as the first networking site to use to develop their business…it is necessary to incorporate this tool because clients are there, and in this age of new technologies firms need to integrate them with their daily activities (Gregori & Baltar, 2012). From whose perspective matters with understanding which assessment tool to use, as well as with understanding the educational system’s learning goals are expected to be consistent with the workforce. If we are expected to train our learners to think from the perspective of the employer, then they too are expected to value what employers value in business. Career and Technical Education prepares the learners for gainful employment within their program of study; student career placement within their field is a most significant measure of assessing whether we are successful as educators, and if we are meeting the goals of the educational system.
Weaknesses and Challenges: Today’s learners are from the “microwave” generation, they want what they want quickly; which is another reason this type of survey simply works. Poll Everywhere has value beyond the classroom, we can use this type of survey immediately following a workshop for viewers to respond. Presentations are enhanced for both the facilitator and the learners by the instant feedback, data collection, shared ideas, and real-time displays (Buerkett & Weisburg, Poll Everywhere -- Assessment in an Instant, 2011).
Buerkett (2011) believes the benefit of this type of interactive learning is that students get maximum benefit of the classroom teacher’s content-area expertise and the school librarian’s expertise in research and information literacy skills; however, weaknesses and challenges come from being unable to build collaborations between teachers and school librarians. Championing inquiry-based learning is an excellent way to focus on collaborations. And although Figueira & Leal (2013) believes the interaction between students, while undertaking a joint project, provides them not only an opportunity to have a more active role in their learning, but also a way to develop their social skills…it makes the students become responsible for their learning and for the learning of their group fellows. This inherent responsibility, when used with care, is also a clear add-on development of the student’s “soft skills”, the benefits do not come without a list of what (Swan et al, 2006) list as the most common difficulties associated with group work, as follows:
Example: This online classroom assessment tool can be applied in a Flipped Classroom (FC) learning environment. A FC is an instructional method to engage student-learning process by replacing didactic lectures…Poll Everywhere is an Audience Response System (PE-ARS) that may be employed in a FC setting to make teaching-learning activities more interesting, engaging, collaborative and interactive (Gubbiyappa, Barua, Das, & Baloch, 2014).
Connecting: Following a workshop or presentation, the student will demonstrate 90% functional improvement through the use and substitution of technology by providing immediate feedback using Poll Everywhere.
Social Networks such as Facebook, and information-sharing sites, have transformed the way people interact online and share information. Increasingly, firms are using these networks to find employees or clients. Recent studies highlight the importance of the virtual environment in the development of business strategies, including those of Subject Matter Experts (SMEs). For instance Ball (2010) – using a survey sent by Facebook, Twitter and email – found that SME owners indicated Facebook as the first networking site to use to develop their business…it is necessary to incorporate this tool because clients are there, and in this age of new technologies firms need to integrate them with their daily activities (Gregori & Baltar, 2012). From whose perspective matters with understanding which assessment tool to use, as well as with understanding the educational system’s learning goals are expected to be consistent with the workforce. If we are expected to train our learners to think from the perspective of the employer, then they too are expected to value what employers value in business. Career and Technical Education prepares the learners for gainful employment within their program of study; student career placement within their field is a most significant measure of assessing whether we are successful as educators, and if we are meeting the goals of the educational system.
Weaknesses and Challenges: Today’s learners are from the “microwave” generation, they want what they want quickly; which is another reason this type of survey simply works. Poll Everywhere has value beyond the classroom, we can use this type of survey immediately following a workshop for viewers to respond. Presentations are enhanced for both the facilitator and the learners by the instant feedback, data collection, shared ideas, and real-time displays (Buerkett & Weisburg, Poll Everywhere -- Assessment in an Instant, 2011).
Buerkett (2011) believes the benefit of this type of interactive learning is that students get maximum benefit of the classroom teacher’s content-area expertise and the school librarian’s expertise in research and information literacy skills; however, weaknesses and challenges come from being unable to build collaborations between teachers and school librarians. Championing inquiry-based learning is an excellent way to focus on collaborations. And although Figueira & Leal (2013) believes the interaction between students, while undertaking a joint project, provides them not only an opportunity to have a more active role in their learning, but also a way to develop their social skills…it makes the students become responsible for their learning and for the learning of their group fellows. This inherent responsibility, when used with care, is also a clear add-on development of the student’s “soft skills”, the benefits do not come without a list of what (Swan et al, 2006) list as the most common difficulties associated with group work, as follows:
- A largely unequal contribution of the group participants
- An inability of the students to manage the different ideas and opinions while progressing
- A decentralization of the objective of the work due to the requirement for increased autonomy and control over the choice of information and its processing
- An individual assessment of each group participant
Example: This online classroom assessment tool can be applied in a Flipped Classroom (FC) learning environment. A FC is an instructional method to engage student-learning process by replacing didactic lectures…Poll Everywhere is an Audience Response System (PE-ARS) that may be employed in a FC setting to make teaching-learning activities more interesting, engaging, collaborative and interactive (Gubbiyappa, Barua, Das, & Baloch, 2014).
Connecting: Following a workshop or presentation, the student will demonstrate 90% functional improvement through the use and substitution of technology by providing immediate feedback using Poll Everywhere.