Free 'Clickers' for All: Using Google Forms to Survey Your Students

Free 'Clickers' for All: Using Google Forms to Survey Your Students written by Michael J. LaGier, PhD and retrieved from Faculty Focus.

What a fantastic way to gather formative assessments from students without any cost to them.
 Check out this great article on how to create, deliver and share the results of your survey. 

TPI

Teaching Perspective Inventory

Thanks for taking the TPI Survey on 01/29/2016.
Group: PIDP - Provincial Instructor Diploma Program (VCC).
Specific learners focused on: Vocational/Technical.
Group Size: 2-9.
Your results can be viewed at Your TPI Survey

Calculated survey results:
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Transmission Total: (Tr) 37.
B = 13; I = 11; A = 13.
Apprenticeship Total: (Ap) 38.
B = 11; I = 14; A = 13.
Developmental Total: (Dv) 32.
B = 12; I = 11; A = 9.
Nurturing Total: (Nu) 38.
B = 11; I = 14; A = 13.
Social Reform Total: (SR) 25.
B = 8; I = 7; A = 10.
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Beliefs total: (B) 55
Intentions total: (I) 57
Action total: (A) 58
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Mean: (M) 34
Standard Deviation: (SD) 5.02
Dominant Threshold: (HIT) 39.02
Recessive Threshold: (LOT) 28.98
Overall Total: (T) 170

This was a revealing exercise.  My viewpoints are quite strong except for social reform and there is little differentiation between the transmission, apprenticeship and nurturing perspectives.  My dominant perspectives are apprenticeship and nurturing, with scores of 38.  The backup perspective is transmission sitting very close with a score of 37.   This makes sense to me with regards to learning Esthetics.  The developmental perspective ranked in the recessive area, but the most recessive by quite a lot is the social reform perspective.  This was a surprise for as one of my main motivating reasons for moving towards Esthetics teaching is to improve the quality of the cosmetology industry.  The TPI shows my lack of attention to this area, with a clear discrepancy between my intention and actions in regards to social reform. 

In the transmission perspective my beliefs, intention and actions align but in all four other perspectives there are some inconsistencies.  This may be due to focusing on the student’s skills with performing services to a high degree and their theoretical knowledge.  Or it may be me being wishy washy about my beliefs, I do change my mind a bit!  The highest sub-scores (14) being intention, occur within my dominant perspectives of both apprenticeship and nurturing, and are followed by a similar action sub-score of 13.   I am happy to see these are aligned and I am following thru on my intent. 

Overall this profile is how I see myself as an educator.  I would like to give more attention to strengthening the developmental and social reform perspectives.  I will be interested to take this exercise again in the future and see where there are differences. 

Brookfield Chapter 1

How refreshing to read that there are some instructors who feel like “Impostors” (Brookfield, 2006) in the teaching world  .  I have never heard another instructor talk about these personal feelings before and I find it somewhat reassuring to know that I am not alone in my thoughts of this nature.  While being prepared and knowing “my stuff” I have experienced more feeling of inadequacy than I really care to admit.  I am new to the instructing arena and while I try not to be to brutal in destroying my fragile and inexperienced teaching ego, I am constantly aware of how much I have to learn to be an effective and “skillful” instructor.

I experienced the best and worst moment thus far in my short teaching career two years ago.  Coming off a bout of food poisoning, off to class I go.  I had diligently prepared my lesson plan and gathered my visual aids for a Brazilian waxing class and demonstration.  The theory based section of the class went well and it was time for the demo.  As I began, I quickly realized I had not used the particular kind of wax I had to use and it was performing vastly different from what I was familiar with.  In my 20+ years doing this service (hair removal is my specialty), I was struggling.  Both my poor model and I experienced painful and uncomfortable moments as I exposed her nether regions to more discomfort than necessary and I tried to overcome my humiliation at my technical difficulties and unpreparedness.  How had I missed this vital element in my preparation for this class?  I hadn’t given the wax a thought and so was forced to figure out how best to use this product before my eager audience.  It was my worst teaching experience because I was so embarrassed.  It was also the best because I learned a valuable lesson.  I will address and prepare for all elements of the lesson. 

Now I am grateful for this fully exposing teaching moment even thou I still shudder at the humiliation I felt, I actually think it was good for the students to see me struggle and figure out how to properly use this product, as they themselves will encounter a similar experience at some point in their Esthetics career.   They won’t always be familiar with every product out there and even being an expert, some days we will struggle. 

Brookfield, S. (2006). Skillful Teacher: On Technique, Trust, and Responsiveness in the Classroom {Jossey-bass Higher and Adult Education Series ; 2nd Ed.}. John Wiley & Sons, (US). p 12.

PIDP 3260

Hello, my name is Samantha Schroeder.
Well this is my final PIDP course before beginning the capstone.  I have learned so much from the previous courses and am continuing to grow in my role as an educator. I am taking this program to gain and build on the skills and knowledge required to best serve students, teaching facilities, and the general public.  My desire is to enhance the cosmetology industry of which I am a dedicated member.  I believe it is a responsibility of the therapist or Estethician to strengthen the quality of our industry, and I am happy to be a part of this process thru education.
I  am quite new to the formal teaching arena and want to have the correct knowledge and effective tools in my toolbox to best manage challenging situations.  I look forward to learning many of these tools in the 3260 course.

Sincerely,
Samantha

Classroom Management

Classroom management is essential to provide students with an environment that builds and maintains a safe and respectful learning setting.  Adult learners must be treated as adults; speaking to students with an approach which is more helpful and informal rather than authoritative.  Recognizing that students often have many priorities on top of their learning goals is important factor for the instructor to remember.  The following link provides a thorough listing of good classroom management points and serves as great reminders for instructors when establishing classroom etiquette. 

  The Dos and Don'ts of Classroom Management: Your 25 Best Tips

Three that resonated most with me were:

• Pick your rules wisely, more rules doesn't always equate to better behavior.
• Mood is contagious, leave your baggage at the door.
• Keep students engaged, it's key to limiting disruptive behavior

Flip it

Flipped learning has been around a long time, this approach has student’s do a pre-reading task or watch a short lecture via video before the class.  This can be done at home or wherever they choose.  The class time is freed up from presenting material to doing activities do reinforce the material already viewed and build on that knowledge.  

I am eager to install some flipped classes in our Esthetics program.  One such class would look like this. Students would watch a short video on the theory aspects of sanitation and disinfection.  Then class time is used to perform the sanitation procedures using checklists as a formative assessment tool.  In the classroom the students are actively participating in tasks connected to the content delivered via video etc, during these tasks there is greater opportunity for learners to be receiving support from their peers and receiving feedback from the instructor when needed.  There must be a safe positive environment established for students to feel comfortable and make personal learning connections.  

http://teachthought.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/PillarsFull.jpg

Our PIDP 3250 class brainstormed in class activities and ways to flip a classroom here are the suggestions, Thanks to all who contributed. 

• Role playing
• Homework - "Ask the expert" during class time
• Play Jeopardy with terms introduced in the video
• Have them critique how well the video brought concepts across
• Get them to answer a questionnaire about the material
• Make a pop quiz at beginning of class worth 2% 
• Go on a field trip to a relevant destinations
• Have a guest speaker
• Students form groups and come up with games for class
• Team based Learning
• Immediate feedbvack assessment techniques
• Discuss a audio recording or video in class  
• Students help each other and compare, collaborate, assess and demonstrate
• Working backwards... on purpose
• Review the  lesson for the next day and come to school to carry out/practice the task/objective 

Another great source of in class activities and assessment ideas is here. https://uwaterloo.ca/centre-for-teaching-excellence/teaching-resources/teaching-tips/lecturing-and-presenting/delivery/class-activities-and-assessment-flipped-classroom