NCTIES 2014 -- "Back Channeling and Formative Assessment"

Richard Byrne and Jennifer LaGarde pictured here both spoke on formative assessment

Richard Byrne is a former teacher of Social Studies and Language Arts from the state of Maine who speaks world-wide about a variety of educational technology topics.  He writes a hugely popular blog ( http://www.freetech4teachers.com/ ), and has developed apps and a number of other educational technology tools. Richard Byrne's presentations including this one on back channeling are available here:  http://richardbyrnepresents.com/  

Jennifer LaGarde, Ryan Redd and Kate Tayloe also presented on this topic of digital tools for formative assessment.  LaGarde is librarian extraordinaire and "trouble maker" in the media community.  Her award winning blog,  http://www.librarygirl.net/ continues to educate and inspire. Ryan Redd is a rock star Math teacher and instructional coach, and Kate Tayloe is also an instructional coach in New Hanover County.  Their presentation is available here:  http://ites.ncdpi.wikispaces.net/EOL+LaGarde+NCSLMA+13+Formative+Assessment

Back Channels are essentially chat rooms for the classroom or other setting.  For example, we use a tool called today's meet (https://todaysmeet.com/) at our monthly technology meetings in WS/FCS.  Tech Facilitators post questions about what is being said in the meeting or reminders to others in the room about resources related to what is being presented without interrupting the flow of the meeting.  Richard pointed out that "back channeling" has been going on long before 21st century technology as students have passed notes in class for as long as students have met in classrooms.  The difference is the "notes" now are public for everyone to see.

What are the benefits of back Channeling and/or formative assessment?

1) Students who might ordinarily not speak up in class, may feel more comfortable participating.

2) Students who don't get called on or when they do say "someone else said what I was going to say" have an opportunity to participate.

3)  Students who might be embarrassed to ask a question for example about health might be more willing to ask in this type of setting.

4) You can assess class knowledge in a snap shot with many of these tools and adjust instruction as needed.

5) Several of the tools let you send files & pictures to the students as they interact and students can return items like drawings from a white board platform.

What do you need to do?

• You would need to establish a "room" or session ahead of time on one of the sites below
• Students would need to have some type of electronic device to interact with the room.  It could be a smart phone, laptop, tablet, computer, etc.
• Establish clear rules of digital etiquette for the sessions.  Richard Byrne mentioned telling his students something like: "Don't ever say anything you wouldn't say to your grandmother in church"

Ideas for Using Back Channeling or formative assessment in class:

• Let's say you have a guest speaker visiting your classroom.  In addition to having students come up with good questions prior to the speaker's visit, have them interact live as questions may arise from things that are said in the conversation and can be posted in the forum.
• Students performing a science lab, cooking in CTE class or perhaps doing a PBL in any subject could report observations/findings for everyone to see in the back channel room
• Using a tool like Infuse learning, you can send an image, graph to student devices for them to analyze and make observations or even draw something.
• Other ideas:  
• http://integratingtech.wikispaces.com/Backchannel+Uses
• http://cybraryman.com/backchannel.html
• Other ideas for using formative assessment

 Resources/Tools:

• Ideas for reviewing digital etiquette with students:Digital Etiquette:  http://www.nisd.net/digitalcitizen/sec_digcit/etiquette_6_12.htm
• Socrative is a smart student response system that empowers teachers by engaging their classrooms with a series of educational exercises and games. It is simple and take seconds to login. Socrative runs on tablets, smartphones, and laptops http://www.socrative.com/
• Infuse Learning  is a free student response system that works with any Internet-connected device including iPads and Android tablets. Infuse Learning allows teachers to push questions, prompts, and quizzes out to students' devices in private virtual classrooms.  http://www.infuselearning.com/
• Padlet was formerly wall wisher and is a virtual wall that allows people to express their thoughts on a common topic easily. It works like an online sheet of paper where people can put any content (e.g. images, videos, documents, text) anywhere on the page, together with anyone, from any device.  Richard suggested it for posting Youtube links as they will show on padlet without all the mess of youtube suggestions, etc. http://padlet.com/wall/sb8jme5llq
• Popplet is is a tool that allows users to visualize ideas. Teachers and students can create graphic organizers, timelines, and many other forms of visual organization.  http://popplet.com/
• Kahoot  allows learners to both respond and create with any device that has a web browser and works over wifi or 3G/4G, creating a variety of trusted learning spaces. https://getkahoot.com/
• http://vocaroo.com/ is a very easy to use online recording site that allows you to save audio creations for a variety of uses.

NCTIES 2012

Recently, I made my annual trek to the North Carolina Technology in Education (NCTIES) conference in Raleigh.  While I did not plan the following strategy when I walked in the conference center, I ended up "immersing myself" in three main themes with three speakers presenting at the conference. Those three speakers were:  Ken Shelton, Richard Byrne and Jennifer LaGarde.  NCTIES never disappoints.  It stretches my mind and I leave feeling enriched not only by the new information, but also the collaboration with colleagues and friends. 

Ken Shelton

In reflecting on the experience, the person this year who changed my thinking the most is a man by the name of Ken Shelton.  I attended two of Shelton's sessions; one of Visual Storytelling and another on Presentation Design.   

What stood out?  The idea that we as humans gain most of our knowledge through our sense of vision, yet what do many presenters cover their presentations slides? -- Words.  I thought more about this concept and it occurred to me that during the long history of humans, the written word only makes up a small percent of our past.  Therefore, it truly makes logical sense that we are "built" to learn more from pictures and the stories they tell and inspire.

In the spirit of Mr. Shelton's idea of avoiding death by power point, I am going to try and limit my words.  I will aspire to live by  the motto of Leonardo Da Vince:  "simplicity is the ultimate sophistication"

Mr Shelton said In planning a presentation, not considering your audience is like a love letter addressed to "whom it may concern". This is especially important for teachers who are often over-whelmed and sometimes close to the tipping point.  A long message or wordy presentation from me is the last thing they want or need.  It's something I have to consciously think more on...

Here are some resources about presentation design that Ken's shared in his sessions:  http://www.symbaloo.com/mix/kensheltonpresentation

The next person who I stalked attended sessions with at NCTIES was Richard Byrne.  I have been a fan of Richard for some time now on twitter.  Richard is a mild mannered 33 year old twitter celebrity and Ray Romano sound-a-like from a small town in the state of Maine.  His website, ( http://www.freetech4teachers.com/ ) is one of the hottest education sites in the country.  I attended his sessions  Best of the Web 2011/2012 as well as favorite android apps for education.  I made a symbaloo of the apps/sites that I want to investigate more. There were so many in fact that I could not even fit all of them on my symbaloo: Here are two more:   gooru for math and science, and National Archive digital Vaults

Android apps on the left in blue, and web apps in pink on the right

Last, but certainly not least is a mover & shaker and librarian extraordinaire--none other than my dear friend and colleague, Jennifer Lagarde.  Jennifer always inspires me, and one of the many things I love about Jennifer is her fierce advovacy for the librarian profession as well as her self-deprecating and humble nature.   I adore how she pleads for that child who might ordinarily "slip under the radar" but has the potential to blossom into something special.  Where does this inner strength and strong advocacy come from you might ask?  A small remark LaGarde made in one of her sessions reminds us of her humble beginnings.  LaGarde said growing up she attended more than 20 different schools and WAS that child "flying under the radar".  A tear welled up in my eye, and it was a moment of clarity for me in realizing what might actually motivate her.

LaGarde led two sessions at NCTIES.  The first was a "smack-down" with Jennifer Northrup, of Flat Rock Middle School near Hendersonville, NC.  Both shared a variety of web resources via a symbaloo:  http://edu.symbaloo.com/mix/ncslmaweb20  Some of the many resources I am anxious to share with my teachers include:  class dojo, timetoast, flipsnack and Q-wiki

Jennifer LaGarde

LaGarde's next session was geared toward Librarians, but begged participants to remember that Librarians ARE teachers who are embedded in a school's instructional program and not the stereotypical "controllers of the books".  Every interaction Librarians make is a "chance to spread the gospel of Library" LaGarde said.  Check out this presentation--it is full of ideas that have the potential to inspire any school:  http://prezi.com/cxd3lnl4kb3j/librarians-are-ready-a-snapshot-of-a-21st-century-library-program/

Finally, what was best for me was sitting in the front row after the show and listening to librarian after librarian step up to speak to LaGarde sharing their stories of successes and inspiration.  This is why we come to NCTIES!  Now what?  http://www.edutopia.org/blog/conference-to-dos-professional-development-nicholas-provenzano