Engagement is a key component in learning. When students are bored or disengaged they are less likely to meet the objectives of a lesson or a class. For my project I would like to increase engagement through the use of technology. Overall, I think it is going well so far. One way that I have gotten my students to buy-in to using the technology is as a manner of making their lives a little bit easier. For example, in my Algebra II class students are asked to find the measures of center for a set of data, and then explain what that information means in relation to the data set. This is not necessarily a difficult task, but it can take a lot of time. However, as a class the students were able to open Desmos, create, and save a calculator that calculates most of the measures of center for them in a manner of seconds. Additionally, it can create tables, graphs, and box plots as a visual representation of the data. Not only is technology helping them to engage more in the lesson, but it is also helping them to understand the content that we are currently learning.
In my Intermediate Algebra II class we are talking about quadratic equations. Once again, we utilize Desmos to get them to engage in the material. They are able to quickly graph parabolas, find the vertex, axis of symmetry, domain and range quickly and efficiently with the help of technology. In the future, we will also build and save a calculator that will help students to perform the quadratic formula and find the real roots of the quadratic. I feel like my students have a positive attitude toward technology because they are learning and growing in a way that they feel comfortable with.
That being said, there are still times when it is difficult to get the students to open their Chromebooks and participate. Luckily in most of my classes I have a co-teacher and between the two of us we are able to reason with the students that opening their Chromebooks and using Desmos will help to make their life easier and their understanding deeper. Another issue that occasionally pops up is the fact that many students come to class with dead Chromebooks. Luckily we have a few extra chargers that we let students use, or they are able to go to the technology classroom, get a loaner, and charge their device. All in all, I would say that implementing technology in the classroom more has really helped students to engage and take ownership of their learning.
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