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Module 3 Collaborize Classroom

Page history last edited by Anne Trachsel 12 years, 1 month ago

 

   - http://www.collaborizeclassroom.com 

 

 

Collaborize Classroom™ is a free, online, web-based, private classroom environment that is designed to foster discussions and critical thinking on variety of subjects.   The teacher can monitor discussions.  Templates are provided for several question types: yes/no, discussion forum, multiple-choice, or “vote or suggest,” which allows a student to vote for an existing answer or to add his/her own.   An image, a video, or a link to a PDF or Microsoft Office ™ file may be embedded in the question block.   A library of discussion topics and questions is included.  While the library includes sub-headings for all ages beginning with preschool, I think this would be most useful for students in elementary school and older.  It could also be used to foster discussion among teachers and administrators. 

 

I set up my Collaborize Classroom™ page for high school Science. Why Science?  Science students sometimes view critical thinking and answering extended-response questions as chores.  Reviews from other teachers convinced me that students feel freer to respond in an online environment.  They can take their time to formulate a response, and they can log in when it is convenient for their schedules.  Teachers report more thoughtful and thorough responses then they would receive in class.

 

 

                            

 

Ease of Set-up: 

Setting up a teacher page in Collaborize Classroom™ is very easy. You choose the name of your website.  My site is named Science with Mrs. Trachsel and can be accessed at http://sciencewithmrstrach.collaborizeclassroom.com   

Add students by having them log in to your site’s address or by sending them email invitations.  I added one student to view things from the student’s perspective.

 

If you would like to investigate, I invite you to log in to  http://sciencewithmrstrach.collaborizeclassroom.com   I’ll approve you as a student, and you can navigate around the page.  Have fun and answer some questions, if you like!   I left all of the questions accessible by everyone, so that people could look around.  In a real class situation, I would limit access to the questions to the group of students taking a particular course.

 

More features of Collaborize Classroom ™:

  • ·         Set up topics/discussions for everyone, or restrict them to a class or smaller group of people.
  • ·         Create the following types of questions:              
    • Yes/No
    • Forum – Students answer a question or   comment on a topic.
    • Multiple Choice
    • Choose an answer or add your own.
      •   If you like another student’s answer, you can vote for it.  If not, you can add your own answer.
      • ·         Each option provides “Comments” section to have students justify their positions.
      • ·         Questions can be visible to everyone, or to specific groups of people.
      • ·         You can embed Webpage, image, or video to go with the discussion.

 

The Collaborize Classroom™ website provides excellent teacher support, including a library of questions/topics that you can use.  Guidelines are available for teachers on topics that include how to formulate a good questions, thoughts on the role of a moderator (silent vs. participating), and helping students to know what makes a good answer.

 

Collaborize Classroom™ would be particularly useful for any class that includes discussions and short-answer questions.  I found it easy to use.

 

I do have a short list of things I would consider changing within Collaborize Classroom™ .

  1. You can attach only one video, image or link rather than multiple items.
  2.  Students cannot change/correct their posts.  (Although if they could, I would want a time-stamped “history tracking” feature that allowed the teacher to see what they had changed.)
  3.  Students cannot add links, pictures, etc. which could be useful in high-school discussions to support their positions.  (On the other hand, the current set-up eliminates the chance that a student could upload something inappropriate.)

 

My Classroom Activities

 

In Science with Mrs. Trachsel  I created original questions for multiple class activities. 

 

Physical Science Class Activity:  (for high school freshmen)
To coordinate with the study of the universe, the galaxy, and space, I posed the discussion question:   Should the United States of America continue to invest in research into astronomy and space travel?  Why or why not?

Students select “Yes” or “No” and then add a comment explaining their answers.   Depending on the answers, I could pose additional questions.  It could also lead to additional classroom discussion.

 

Standards met by this activity include:

  1.  (New Science standards) Science Inquiry and Application
    1. Communicate and support a scientific argument  (new Physical Science standards)
    2. Use technology and mathematics to improve investigations and communications
    3. (New Science standards) Physical Science – Study of the Universe
  2. ISTE/NETS – Students
    1. Communicate and Collaborate
    2. Think critically, solve problems, make decisions
    3. Use technology effectively and productively
  3. ISTE/NETS-T  – Teachers
    1. Facilitate and Inspire Student Learning and Creativity
    2. Design and Develop Digital-Age Learning Experiences and Assessments
    3. Model Digital-Age Work and Learning
    4. Promote and Model Digital Citizenship and Responsibility

 

 

Biology Class Activity:  (for high school freshmen or sophomores)
This would follow or coincide with the study of ecosystems and biomes.  The answers given could foster additional class research or discussion into the future of various ecosystems.

 

The Future of the Tundra:  One of the ecosystems we studied was the biome of the Tundra.  Choose the item from the list below that you think will have the greatest impact on the tundra in the future.  In the comments section, explain your choice.

Answer choices are:

  • Temperature change
  • Change in water supply
  •  Loss of habitat due to development
  •  Decline in critical members of the food web
  • Something else (allowing the student to make a different choice if he/she doesn’t agree with my choices)

After everyone has answered, I can close the discussion and show the results in graphical form. 

 

Please note that this does not show the results from the same question!  I wanted to show you the pie chart, but I do not have a class of students using my page.   Instead, I  chose a set of results to an Icebreaker question on  the Collaborize Classroom website (cited in my references).

 

Standards met by this Biology activity include:

  1. ISTE/NETS – Students
    1. Communicate and Collaborate
    2. Think critically, solve problems, make decisions
    3. Use technology effectively and productively
  2. ISTE/NETS-T  – Teachers
    1. Facilitate and Inspire Student Learning and Creativity
    2. Design and Develop Digital-Age Learning Experiences and Assessments
    3. Model Digital-Age Work and Learning
    4. Promote and Model Digital Citizenship and Responsibility
  3. (New Science standards) Science Inquiry and Application
    1. Communicate and support a scientific argument  (new High School Science standards)
    2. Use technology and mathematics to improve investigations and communications
    3. (New Science Standards) Biology - Diversity and Interdependence of Life – Ecosystems
    4. (New Science Standards) Environmental Science – Biospheres Section, Ecosystems.

 

In Conclusion:

You've seen some example of Collaborize Classroom™  here.   Check out the website, then try it with your classes!

 

References / Bibliography:

 

Collaborize classroom: Education to the power of we.   http://www.collaborizeclassroom.com/   Copyright 2012 Democrasoft Inc.

 

TeachersFirst.com Thinking Teachers Teaching Thinkers® Copyright © 1998-2012 by The Source for Learning, Inc.  http://www.teachersfirst.com/single.cfm?id=12746

 

AppAppeal Editor. (January 26, 2011). Collaborize classroom online learning platform . AppAppeal, Retrieved from http://www.appappeal.com/app/collaborize-classroom

 

Pedagogical tool review: Collaborize classroom . (2011, March 01). Retrieved from http://mreyn012.grads.digitalodu.com/blog/?p=780

 

Ritholtz, B. (2011, June 27). Education technology: Collaborize classroom. Retrieved from http://www.ritholtz.com/blog/2011/06/education-technology-collaborize-classroom/

 

Rossoff, F. (2011, November 29). EDLab ­– Teachers College, Columbia University,  Retrieved from http://edlab.tc.columbia.edu/index.php?q=node/6862

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qU6LMt9Ieyc  Collaborize Classroom for Online Education and Online Learning.

 

Ohio revised science standards and model curriculum high school. (2011, March). Retrieved from http://www.ode.state.oh.us/GD/Templates/Pages/ODE/ODEDetail.aspx?page=3&TopicRelationID=1705&ContentID=76585&Content=118954  ("Ohio revised science," 2011)

 

ISTE/NETS Students Standards 2007:  http://www.iste.org/standards/nets-for-students.aspx

 

ISTE/NETS-T Teachers Standards 2008: http://www.iste.org/standards/nets-for-teachers.aspx

 

Picture showing results of Collaborize poll: http://www.collaborizeclassroom.com/resources/teacher-success-resources/the-collaborize-classroom%E2%84%A2-teacher-success-guide

 

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