Google Forms is a quick and simple way to collect information from your students. Similar to creating a survey, answers can be provided in a variety of formats. For the purpose of our breakout session, we created a quiz in which specific responses were necessary in order to receive the next clue. Features built into the Google form allow students to see that their answer is incorrect by highlighting the word in red,oftentimes before the word is completed. However, as some of our students discovered, a correct answer may be marked as incorrect until the entire answer is entered. This feature keeps students from relying on the red highlight to determine if their answer is right or wrong until it is entered completely.
Figure 5 Screenshot of Google Form
Tinkercadis a free, online 3D design tool, which can be easily used by teachers and students without any prior Computer-Aided Design (CAD) experience. We utilized this program to design a 3D, two-sided bookmark containing different design elements on each side. Tinkercad does provide templates that users can manipulate, but we could not find one that met our needs so we started from scratch. Watching YouTube videos to walk us through file conversions and design elements was extremely helpful. However, at this point, we still just had a (somewhat complicated) design and could not figure out how to divide an object into puzzle pieces. Through some trial and error, and with additional assistance of the NESTT Learning Lab student workers, this was finally accomplished. We printed 3 times before we were satisfied with the outcome. Overall, the planning time for this particular piece of our project took roughly six hours.
Benefits and Recommendations
Learning how to meaningfully integrate technology in any classroom is a challenge, as schools and teachers often lack the time and resources to wholly explore the full scope of a specific instrument or program. Students today are immersed in technology at a superficial, and passive level. Social media and online games only offer them a glimpse of how technology can enhance communication and learning. Often technology is simply a means through which students receive information rather than using technology as a tool to showcase understandings. Meaningful use inschools allows students to experiment with and experience different purposes.
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