Lesson 9: Researching in Education

 April 14th, 2021

During this class we discussed the constant change that the world of apps/educational platforms undergoes. It is important not to use technology just because it is fashionable so we will make sure that we only use it when it really helps us. The way the world of apps changes each day is through: new ones appearing and others closing, sometimes they modify the characteristics and sometimes they eliminate some important factors. Also, they may become premium. 

The first thing you need in order to do research in education, we need to detect a need such as:  

• Some concept that students do not understand or have trouble visualising. 
• Some topic that we see that they find boring to explain and does not motivate them. 
• Some topic that can be improved if some technology is used.

The second step is thinking if it can be solved without technology quickly and perhaps more effectively. After that, if we see that technology can help us and that it does not imply more effort than benefit, use it. Then, Search/apply an app or platform, taking into account different criteria, such as: 

• Cost. 
• Complexity for us when setting it up. 
• Complexity for the student. 
• How to manage the student's data (be careful with privacy). 
• To ask oneself again if it really contributes something to our teaching.

For the group assignment in this class, we had to think of a concept to explain in class related to the water cycle. Find an app or platform to use in the classroom (note how it was searched, keywords, operators, etc.) that allows you to create some kind of interactive activity with the student. We had to test and analyse the operation of the app or platform and create some content with the app to explain the concept. We decided to use the application that we talked about in class: Live Worksheets. Live Worksheets is an interactive tool where teachers and other educators can create different worksheets regarding a topic of their choice. They must upload the worksheet they created to live worksheets and then they are able to put the correct answers and create different types of exercises. For example, I chose to do fill in the blanks and drag and drop exercises as one can observe below. Educators are also able to share the worksheets they have created with the rest of the users in order to help or inspire other indivdiuals for their own worksheets. This makes it really easy to use and with the tutorials they provide, the process went smooth.  

Finally, once they have filled out all of the exercises and check their answers a grade will appear at the top as we can observe below:

This is the link to the worksheet I created: https://www.liveworksheets.com/3-ax113338oy 

Furthermore, for the individual assignment, I have decided to talk about TypeForm (https://www.typeform.com/), an interactive and online software where you can create different exercises and activities. There are different types of questions you can create such as multiple choice, yes or no questions, short and long answer questions, etc. I found this application through Google as I was looking for interactive applications for an educational purpose. 

For finding this application, you need to type on your Google Chrome search engine, applications for making activities for educators and it will be one of the first options that come up. I decided to create questions and activities related to our didactic unit, the water cycle. We created content that helped indivdiuals understand and think about the topic in a deeper way. As one can observe below the application can be used for several purposes but I decided to create an answer type of quiz. I created four different questions and then once the individual finishes the questions they are able to see the correct answers. In this application you are able to add pictures, videos or any quotes that might be helpful towards answering the questions. I decided to ask questions that gave an overview of the important concepts of the water cycle. 

Overall, these applications were quite useful as they can be used to create more interactive exercises for students in order to make the process of learning a little bit more fun! It is also important to be aware of the possibility to make lessons online so it is easier to connect with students through the current COVID-19 pandemic. This class was also really helpful in order to know more about the research that it takes in order to create educational resources for other students. We also talked about many other applications that we could use such as the ones we have already seen (JClic and Hot Potatoes) and we can look for others as there are thousands of applications on the internet that are free and could be really useful in order to create a lesson.