The two articles that interested me the most was the one about the many uses of twitter and the article on student cheating. In regards to twitter, I have never used it. I have never even looked at a twitter post. When my friends ask me if I follow their twitter, I tell them I can read minds so its not worth the time. I really do not understand the point of twitter. While the article mentioned the many uses of twitter, I still think people have better use for there time than telling the world what they were doing or thinking that day. If you really want people who know you to see your thoughts call them or write a letter, if you want those who don't know you to see your thoughts, learn to write a more than a few sentences and make it a book or article. Personally I feel like twitter is an online ego booster. Yes it can be fun to read how many donuts Shaq ate for breakfast, or what country Angelina Jolie is adopting her next baby from, but in reality no one cares whether Robert McBobbert thinks Taco Bell should go back to the commercials with the talking chihuahuas. Most of my friends who are on twitter use it solely to see how popular they are in comparison to each other. I feel like the use of twitter in education, would be novelty use only. Perhaps my cynicism on this matter is not warranted considering I have never used twitter and have very little experience with its use. So to be fair you can now follow me on twitter at https://twitter.com/dagolden744 I bet a friend 10 bucks that I could get more followers than him by next week so if you want me to bring in donuts to next class, Follow Me!
Now on to a subject I know much more about cheating! Ahem... I find it interesting that schools are focusing on new security measures and technologies to limit cheating. It seems easier to figure out ways to prevent students from cheating than to figure out why they are cheating. I bet that most students at one point or another looked over another student's shoulder to see if they also circled in D for question 24. One of the primary ways of testing is multiple choice tests. If a teacher really wants to eliminate cheating switch the test format to essay or problem solving. Personally I feel multiple choice tests do not truly measure the students understanding of the material and is used for practical grading purposes. I think a reason students so frequently cheat on multiple choice tests is because they test memorization skills. For example a student may fully understand the reasoning behind Henry VIII forming the Anglican Church, however if the question asks the name of his third wife then memorization is being tested over understanding. The student who is better at understand the material is penalized in multiple choice tests while those how just memorized are rewarded. Entering the mind of the student who understands the main historic importance of Henry VIII but cannot put his wives in order, I can see how they would be enticed to look at another student's answer. Oh and by the way this student along with many others across the country are put under tremendous pressure to achieve high grades and get into the best universities. Now if the teacher switched the format of the test to essay, then the student who understands the material will be rewarded. The only negative is that the teacher will have to spend more time grading the exams. I feel we should examine why students cheat and move away from primarily multiple choice exams in order to eliminate cheating. There's no need to monitor students with computer software and cameras, I'm pretty sure we don't need big brother watching over classrooms.
David,
ReplyDeleteA) I am sitting right next to you and just wanted to say...Damn, you look good today.
B) Totally agree with you on both accounts. I have commented on the Twitter thing for a lot of other people, so you are getting my take on cheating. Looking back to my schooling, all of the teachers who I would consider to be the best didn't exclusively rely on multiple choice testing. That is not to say that there were no multiple choice quizzes in their classroom, but their major assessments were mostly short answer or essay.
I cannot eat donuts so I need a further form of motivation to follow you on twitter and yes David, I do care how many donuts Shaq ate at breakfast. i would find it highly amusing. However, on the topic of using twitter in the classroom, I feel the students would find the use of it more of a novelty than a tool.
ReplyDeleteYou said, "It seems easier to figure out ways to prevent students from cheating than to figure out why they are cheating." Exactly. Big business is learning that many (not all!) adminstrators are looking for quick, superficial fixes. The better solution might be, as you suggest, to look for the root causes of cheating (lack of concern, uninteresting material, lack of personalization, testing things that don't need to be tested). More and more, technology is being sold as a "quick fix" for everything. Hence our neverending drumbeat that making GOOD tech decisions matters more than USING tech.
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing your concerns about Twitter (and plugging your twitter feed in the same post). : ) I too doubt the educational or any other use of twitter. And I'm uncomfortable with people "tweeting".
ReplyDeleteKF brings up an interesting point about how business has infiltrated school. First there are the over-priced text books, the over-priced tech equipment, then, now, the over-priced stuff to monitor that tech equipment. It's also infiltrating teaching philosophy--efficiency! efficiency! I almost feel as though we, as teachers, would be better off assigning bigger, more long-term projects and fewer low-level activities so that we can afford to do more accurate and fair assessment. This would cut down on the need for high cost equipment and maybe we could use that money for better textbooks, resources, etc. Maybe?
I totally agree with your comments on twitter. It works just like all the other facebook/myspace/etc. as a tool for people to shape their egos/images. I also think it is gimmicky/a novelty too.
ReplyDeleteDavid!
ReplyDeleteIf I can figure out how to join twitter I will follow you lol... does that mean I can have a donut???
I agree with you on the testing. I despise multiple choice! Give me essay questions any day over multiple choice. In our modern times there aren't many situations where we would be unable to look something up if we can't remember a particular name or term. So, I don't think there is much use in memorizing things that we could simply look up...
Oh! You hit the nail on the nose! (If it can have a head, why not a nose?) I do believe Twitter encourages this weird competition about who has more followers and helps people feel good about themselves (not that there is anything wrong with feeling good about yourself, but it seems this method is superficial...) That's (one of the many) reasons I've stayed away from Facebook. (Parenthesis are my friends...) The point is all of these social networks have MAJOR disadvantages, even if we can find them useful in some applications...
ReplyDelete