Category Archives: Technology in the Classroom

ChatGPT and Artificial Intelligence in Education

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Written by Michael Plocher

For some time, artificial intelligence (AI) methods have been used in education. Until recently, most uses of AI focused on data analysis and have been learner-oriented, instructor-oriented, and institutional system-oriented (Zawacki-Richter, Marín, Bond, & Gouverneur, 2019). AI used in this way includes adaptive or personalized learning systems, such as plagiarism detection, automatic feedback on submitted work, and online quizzes that automatically adjust the difficulty of questions based on students’ responses.

ChatGPT – A Natural Language Processing AI
Within the last four years, a type of AI called Large Language Models (LLM) has enabled large-scale Natural Language Processing (NLP) research (Gruetzemacher, 2022). This form of artificial intelligence focuses on how computers can process language like humans do. Continue reading →

Voice, Choice, Pace, and Place: Tools to Support Blended Learning

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Written by Jason Schmidt

The last two years have seen a dramatic increase in our familiarity and comfort with the tools of online learning. As schools return to face-to-face learning, educators would do well to use this as an opportunity to take the good things we learned during the pandemic and apply them to our current situations. We’re especially interested in ways we can empower students with voice, choice, pace, and place.

Station-Rotation Model: Perhaps one of the simplest ways to incorporate blended learning into a classroom is using the Station-Rotation Model. In this model, the instructor creates blocks of instructional time with a variety of tasks to complete. Continue reading →

Building Relationships Through Active Technology

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Written by Professor Rachel Feld

Picture a child using technology. What do you see? Is it a grade-schooler in a restaurant, glued to a screen instead of talking to their family? Or maybe a baby in their bouncy seat complete with a tablet holder? (Really, this was an actual product—although it doesn’t seem to be available anymore.) These pictures all come to mind for me too. The negative effects of technology on our children seem to be everywhere.

But I like to focus on a picture from my own childhood. I’m with my dad in his office, playing a game on his lap or learning about the new gadget or program he brought home from work. These are some of my favorite childhood memories, and they’re a big reason why I’m involved in technology to this day.

What’s the difference between these pictures? Why does the first picture make me cringe while the other gives me warm fuzzy feelings? While there are many factors that separate these different technology uses, one of the biggest factors is how the technology is being used and, more specifically, whether that use is active or passive. Continue reading →

Digital Strategies for the Multi-Grade Classroom

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Written by Alan Uher

Stressing over distance learning? Is the imminence of a pivot to distance learning getting you down? Struggling with meeting the needs of students who are not present while others are? A team of MLC educators presented ideas for online learning in June 2020 to encourage WELS teachers to embrace distance learning, unmask its blessings, and utilize existing technology resources to serve students who cannot be in our classrooms.

Having had the privilege of visiting nearly 100 MLC teacher candidates in over five dozen WELS elementary classrooms, I have gleaned ideas and current web resources, teaching tools, and assessment strategies that may assist you in delivering quality instruction in less-than-quality circumstances. Continue reading →

Quarantine Kids

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Written by Jason Schmidt

Coronavirus is here to stay, and we now need to move past crisis education and into utilizing our available resources to meet our students’ needs. Utilizing technology appropriately in a classroom is no longer optional since it has become an essential tool for connecting students with their classrooms—especially when students are in quarantine or isolation for days at a time.

Video conferencing tools like Google Meet and Zoom have been used to help give students an opportunity to participate in class even though they may be in isolation or quarantine. The following tips will help teachers make this experience beneficial for students both in school and out of school. Continue reading →

Why ePortfolios?

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Written by Gail Potratz

Building ePortfolios with the students in your classroom is a creative, exciting paradigm-changing endeavor. Digitally created portfolios can . . .

  • Provide an online container where student work can be stored easily in the classroom
  • Allow students to feel empowered about their progress in learning as they are . . .
    • Motivated to take an active part in the progression of skill development and learning as shown in their selected artifacts
    • Allowed to expand student-directed decisions about personal student learning
  • Provide purpose for teaching the important skill of self-reflection on one’s work
  • Provide numerous opportunities for seamless integration of technology skills such as . . .
    • Site design
    • Creation of various media types—such as text, artwork, video, audio, and images—as artifacts to display
    • Linking and embedding of varied media from where they were created—whether in G Suite or third-party apps such as Animoto, Voicethread, etc.
  • Enable students to easily revise and edit their work artifacts

Continue reading →

Tips to Avoid Zoom Bombing

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Written by Jason Schmidt

Zoom video conferencing is an amazing free tool teachers can use to connect with their students. Just like anything, though, we’re finding out that something that should be really positive is making negative headlines.

It’s all over the news. Random people are dropping in on classroom meetings over Zoom and causing all sorts of disruption. They hijack the presenter’s screen to share inappropriate or disturbing content. They fill the chat room with all kinds of garbage and disrupt class audibly. “Zoom bombing,” as it’s known, is becoming a favorite pastime of many internet trolls and bored teenagers. Whole communities have popped up, sharing information on how to continue this practice.

While this new pastime is annoying, disruptive, and potentially harmful, you can take some actions to secure your classrooms. Continue reading →

Advancing Your Students Through Online Learning

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Written by Angela Hanson

How are you, your students, and their families doing now that COVID-19 has completely up-ended your lives, taken you out of the classroom, and suddenly thrown you into the world of distance learning?

While this educational arrangement may not be your normal, it has been my normal for the past seven years. I teach middle school and, previously, high school Spanish online for the Association of Lutheran High Schools Online. I also homeschool my children, ages 3, 6, 8, and 10.

Given that experience, I want to encourage you as you transition into teaching online to students who are learning from home. It is possible to advance your students in their learning! I also want you to mentally prepare (if you haven’t already) for the possibility that distance learning will be your new normal for the rest of the school year. Continue reading →

Things I’ve Learned About Teaching Online

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The perspective of a current online grade 7-8 Algebra 1 teacher and former high school math teacher

Written by Emily Grunwald

The coronavirus has created new challenges for teachers and students. With little time and training, teachers are moving lessons online. I’ve been teaching math online for the Association of Lutheran High Schools Online (ALHSO) program for several years. Here are some things I’ve learned. Continue reading →

Formative Assessments Using Technology

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Written by Michael Plocher

FORMATIVE ASSESSMENTS

Assessing learning is an important part of teaching. Whether in a traditional classroom, confirmation class, Sunday school, or other learning environment, purposeful formative assessments can raise standards of achievement (Black and Wiliam, 1998). Popham (2008) and Ainsworth (2015) also tell us that formative assessments are a planned process in which teachers or students use assessment-based evidence to adjust what they are currently doing rather than using it to gather information for letter grades. The cycle of teaching new information, figuring out who understands the content, and planning for how to reach the student who does not, happens in a variety of educational settings. Using traditional methods of conducting formative assessments can be time-consuming, provides limited temporary information, and can produce results that can be difficult to interpret. Continue reading →