Techquest Project Description Blog Entry

An educational need or opportunity

I have been teaching note-taking skills to my freshman the past two years. At the end of the semester I always give students a survey asking opinions about how they feel about several of my types of lessons. An overwhelming majority of students (80%) vote that they believe the note-taking lessons are the most relevant for their future academic success however it is also the most unpleasant lesson type I use. I really want to make these note-taking students a little more interesting for students to do. If student interest improved so would their motivation to learn which in turn would be reflected in an improvement in learning & grades. I feel that I can address this issue by integrating Inspiration or Webspiration as a means to spice up note-taking.

I could measure my success with this venture by measuring student’s attitudes and comments about taking notes with the software as well as the end of the semester exit survey I give to students. I can also compare the progress that is made with the quality of notes taken by the students from previous years. Another means I can use to determine effectiveness is the improvement or digression of grades in the class. This could be difficult because each year there is a new crop of students that have different interests, personalities, and capabilities.

How I plan to address this educational issue with technology. Back in CEP 810 I investigated the program Webspiration/Inspiration to determine potential uses for academics. I would like to further investigate this technology as a means to improve student interest and effectiveness in note taking skills. From my experience note taking is very necessary but mundane skill that everyone uses. By using Webspiration/Inspiration I can solve a couple issues that students have with note-taking. First these programs allow a way of taking notes that is much more visual so that students will build a better cohesive connective web of ideas which Brophy refers to as coherent content. Another problem solved by this program is providing a means for students to integrate multimedia into their notes. When students insert a video to illustrate an idea that they are learning it is much more stimulating as mentioned in the Brabec piece. Another great issue dealt with using these programs is the issue of note-taking for multiple intelligences. Students that prefer the outline method can still use this way to take notes however students that like the mind mapping can use this approach. On top of addressing the multiple intelligences students can begin to make a connection between one way of taking notes to another method by using the crossover function that goes between the more visual approach to the outline approach (which the book uses).

Making the Impact

As mentioned in the Brophy article it is extremely important that students can see connections between the information that they are trying to learn. This builds a connective web of knowledge that strengthens the memory and understanding. This program does a great job with making these connections. Additionally the digital interface also allows for students to create visual connections with multimedia videos and pictures from the internet that can easily be copied and pasted. As the Brabec article has stated this really helps to build a better non verbal understanding of content. The best part of the technological solution is that the webspiration/inspiration software is not extremely specific to one educational discipline which means it can be applied to a number of classes and situations. The software can be used in social studies, science, english and even math classes which means more bang for the buck. Zhao cites this as a very important idea for administrators to take in account when trying to determine the practicality of a technological product.

Relevant research and resources
1. Inspiration Product website, 2009.
• http://www.inspiration.com/Inspiration
• http://www.inspiration.com/Examples/Inspiration#social-studies
• http://www.inspiration.com/videos/Inspiration

2. Education World, March 27, 2002. Educator Software Review: Inspiration.
http://www.educationworld.com/a_tech/tech/tech124.shtml

3. Zhao, Y., (2003). What Teachers Need to Know about Technology? Framing the Question. What Should Teachers Know about Technology? Perspectives and Practices. Research Methods for Educational Technology Series. Ed. Yong Zhao. Information Age Publishing: Gre

4. Brophy, J, (1999) Teaching.

5. Brabec, K., Fisher, K., & Pitler, H. (2004). Building better instruction: How technology supports nine research-proven instructional strategies. Learning & Leading with Technology 31 (5). p. 6-11.

Implementation
For the current semester I cannot actually implement this technology since my district has only a limited amount of product licenses. I can get my hands on one copy to work out lessons but as for getting the program installed in a lab I would have to prove the product use to the district. It is my hope that this proposal will secure such an opportunity for next fall in my freshman world history classes that I spend so much time with note-taking skills.

How your project addresses the four common places of education:

Someone teaching- The teacher will wear several hats with using this technology. First they will be the demonstrator so that students understand the technical aspects of this software. The teacher must also teach note-taking skills and how to unlock the information key that each textbook possesses. Finally when the teacher is done with the sage on the stage introduction they will act as the guide on the side while students implement the skills and the technology to better understand the information.

Someone learning- Students will at first be receiving direct instruction about how to use the technology and read the book for information. Then become the active learner in finding important information, classifying the information then finding videos or images that illustrate the idea.

Some subject matter- World History (freshman) U.S. History

In some setting- Traditional Classroom, Computer Lab