Paragraph 1: Personal Digital Assistants
What are Personal Digital Assistants? How do you use them in classrooms?
Personal Digital Assistants, or PDAs, are handheld digital devices that allow a person to more effectively plan and organize information during their daily lives. Students can use them in classrooms to take notes and look up information pertinent to the lesson. They can also use them to organize the lesson for later study as well as discuss the lesson with other students in the class. While they are a potent learning tool, many schools fear that students will use them for activities that will distract them from lessons and thus diminish their learning rather than enhancing it. Teachers will need to be watchful to make sure the devices are used appropriately.
Paragraph 2: Online Surveys
Why do we use online survey tools? How does it help us in our classrooms? What are 2 good rules for writing good surveys in your opinion?
Online survey tools are an easy way to gather a large amount of information in a short period of time and from a large group of people. Standard surveys are limited by the ability of the surveyor to contact groups of people, while online surveys have no such limitations. This helps us in our classrooms by letting the students research the tendencies of a large demographic without taking up too much time or effort. Surveys must, however, be used carefully to acquire accurate data. The most critical point is in the questions. Survey questions must be clear and specific, as a broad or poorly worded question could lead to misunderstanding on the part of those answering it, which can lead to skewed results. Questions must also try to avoid leading the survey taker by using the wording to influence them in selecting a particular answer, which will also corrupt the survey's results.
Paragraph 3: Conclusion
Both devices above can be used to great effect in the classroom if used responsibly. It is up to the teacher to make sure their students realize both the learning potential of these devices as well as the potential pitfalls associated with them.
Citations:
Leland, Eric. "A Few Good Online Survey Tools." ideal ware. Idealware, Feb.
2011. Web. 25 Feb. 2011. <http://www.idealware.org/articles/
fgt_online_surveys.php>.
Vincent, Tony. "Learning in Hand." Learning in Hand. Tony Vincent, n.d. Web. 25
Feb. 2011. <http://learninginhand.com/>.
