Welcome to our Technology Requirements! On this page, we will lay out the technology required to guide students through our research hub. For ease of use and access, we intend to use G-Suite tools as a base for our project. We believe this will allow teachers to take what we have created, make a copy for themselves and adjust it to meet the unique needs of their own classrooms.
The research hub is meant to support students in their understanding and application of good research practices guided by Kathleen Morris' five steps (2019) - check out her website!
Below are descriptions of the technology we will require students to use for our design project:
Users of our project will need access to a computer or mobile device, as well as access to the internet. Most of the essential tools for learning do not require use of camera or video, however some of our reflection tools will.
In choosing which format to use for this project, we have decided that using G-suite will enable consistency and easy of use when designing. We believe that using Google Apps will provide our users the most opportunities to interact with and manipulate the learning process for their specific needs. We will be using three specific G-Suite tools to achieve these goals:
Click the image above to learn more about the features available through Google Sites (Miller, 2020)
Google Sites will be the main “hub” for our project. All four sections of the project will appear as pages on the site. These include the Research and Process Reference Guide, the Gamified Research Simulation, the Research Process Framework Template, and the Student Toolkit to Gamify the Research. Google Sites has many useful benefits as outlined by the website, Ditch That Textbook (2020). Some of the key ones we will be using will be a google slides and the use of google forms for reflection and also the creation of a digital escape room.
At it's base level, Google Slides can be used as a presentation app. However, with the use of hyperlinks, this tool can be used to guide students through dynamic learning experiences. Students can follow links to external websites as well be taken to other slides within the presentation. This allows for the application to be used as a "choose your own adventure" style learning experience. Our goal will be to provide students with multiple pathways of research and have them make judgements about various sources we provide them.
Digital Escape rooms, also known as digital breakout rooms, allow teachers to “gamify” the learning experience for students. Students will show their learning by responding to questions on google classroom. These questions will be used as “Keys” to move onto the next part of the lesson. Students who respond correctly move on, students who don’t will need to attempt this section of the lesson again. This gamified experience provides instant feedback for students, while also providing challenges that motivate students to move through the learning process. It also provides teachers with quick assessments of student progress.
Google forms will be used to develop the escape room, but they will also be embedded throughout the learning process to provide students with opportunities for reflection. Teachers can use these reflections as formative assessments throughout the learning experience.
Google Jamboard is an online interactive whiteboard tool that students can manipulate to brainstorm ideas, map out their topics, and visualize their thoughts.
In accordance with Richhart (2016), we want to provide students with opportunities to discuss their learning with their peers and make their thinking visible. While a hybrid learning model would allow for this as an in class experience, we want to design our program to be accessible to students who are learning remotely. For this reason, we will be embedding onto our google site two discussion forms for students to post their thoughts and respond to each other’s ideas. We believe that providing students opportunities to discuss their opinions about a variety of sources will help expose them to a diverse set of ideas.
Padlet is an online bulletin board. Students can add “post it notes” to the board with responses to questions posed by the teacher. Other students can reply to those notes with ideas of their own. This is a relatively simple and easy to use forum that teachers can modify for their own needs. Click the video tutorial below to learn more about how Padlet works. Click the Padlet Logo to the right to try it out!