Using mobile technologies to make student thinking visible

When: October 1, 2015, 12:00 pm - 2:00 pm
Where: Charlotte Frank Classroom (1203 HE)

Presenter(s): Manashi Chatterjee (Chemistry) and Kathleen Isaac (Curriculum and Teaching)


Do you ever wonder what your students are thinking? In this Lunchtime Seminar, we’ll discuss and experience classroom practices that engage students in substantive thinking and problem solving. These practices include the use of mobile technologies to make these often-invisible processes visible to other students and the instructor, while at the same time deepening student understanding.

Manashi Chatterjee and her teaching assistants will demonstrate how students in a large chemistry class use iPads to share their problem-solving processes. Up to four student volunteers work on problems on iPads that are simultaneously projected to the front of the classroom. Manashi provides feedback as the students work and is able to effectively address errors as they occur. Analysis of students’ in-class work has provided Manashi with valuable insight about common misconceptions, and what students do and do not know. This information enables Manashi and her teaching assistants to adjust what is discussed during class time.

Kathleen Isaac’s students are K-12 teacher candidates. Kathleen will show how these teacher candidates and their students use mobile devices and Skitch, an app used for sketching and annotation, to represent student thinking about dance. In one example, high school students create and photograph sculptures, use Skitch to outline the shape of the sculptures, and then create dances that represent these shapes. In another example, students photograph their peers demonstrating dance technique, and the teacher candidate uses Skitch to highlight aspects of body shape that students notice in these images. The teacher candidate and the students then co-construct rubrics based on the annotated images.

The presentations will be followed by a discussion about how these techniques might be used in other disciplines.

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